Marvellous Dragons
by lionhead
Summary: This is a crossover where i put the Dragonball universe in the Marvel universe. The story is about the rise of King Piccolo and the Marvel heroes becoming involved with the Dragonball universe. Note that the story starts with only minor changes to the original universe but this changes as the story progresses. Now with sequel!
1. Chapter 1

May 5th, 1995. Manhattan, New York City.

Charles Xavier, leader of the X-men has called his team together for an important mission. Beneath the million dollars mansion and school, a secret cluster of rooms makes up the X-men base. The war room is their main briefing room situated right next to the danger room, their training grounds. At the end of the hall is Cerebro, where Xavier keeps an eye on the mutants and humans of the world.

"Welcome, my X-men." Xavier said, sitting in his wheelchair at the head of the long table. To his right sat his second in command Scott Summers, aka Cyclops. On his direct left, Jean Grey, aka Marvel Girl. They had been his earliest students and powerful mutants. Next to Cyclops sat Bobby Drake, aka Iceman. Next to Jean sat Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler and next to him Warren Worthington III, aka Angel. These were his X-men, loyal, brave and compassionate. His hopes for the future lay in their hands.

"An hour ago in Cerebro i picked up the trail of a mutant in distress. Not much later i fully lost the connection." He started. Jean was the most familiar with Cerebro's workings so she immediately stepped in to explain further.

"Meaning the mutant died quite instantly, and violently." She said. Xavier nodded softly. He could always feel a sensation of dread when someone died while he was connected to them through cerebro. He had trained his mind to cope with this loss. He continued.

"Death can happen to all of us. An accident, disease, but this was clearly murder, murder by another mutant to be exact." He said the last thing with a broken voice. Last time something like this happened it concerned his X-men closely when one of them died trying to stop a missile. The event was still fresh in his mind and that of his 2 top X-men sitting closest to him. The others weren't here yet though, but they knew their pain. Xavier promised no other X-men will die by his fault again.

"Another mutant?" Angel asked. "Do you think Magneto is behind this?" Angel asked concerned. They had dealt with Magneto increasingly the last months, he has become more violent and cocky. Magneto wanted humankind to kneel towards the mutants, he thought the mutants should rule the humans instead of the other way around, he was willing to kill and use terrorism to achieve his goals, even against fellow mutants.

"I did not recognize the mutant as one of Magneto's men. Very powerful though, too quick to identify. Curious enough i have detected more mutants in the same area. This amount could gain the attention of groups and organizations." Xavier explained.

"You mean a group that could mean harm to mutants? Where did it all happen exactly Professor?" Iceman asked.

"Japan, Kyushu island. As you know a mutant we know, Sunfire, resides there. As far as i know he is not involved yet. But he is present in the country." He explained. Angel stood up to look at the screen more closely. He pointed at the area marked.

"Isn't that the same spot where the red ribbon army fought the avengers? They are known mutant haters." Angel added.

"The red ribbon army is gone, has been for years. I don't think they are involved in this, this is something different." Professor X said. He knew the red ribbon army had fallen apart ever since a group of kids they knew as the Z warriors took out their leaders one by one. They were just kids, higly skilled at combat but still only kids, not mutants either. Like said, the red ribbon army is no threat anymore, it doesn't concern them.

"Different? Why is that professor?" Jean Grey asked.

"I detected something else, something disturbing. Ancient. It moved around, couldn't pinpoint a location. I have a feeling this involves the murder of the mutant. I did an investigation and 2 days before another person was murdered not far from where the mutant was killed. There could be a connection." Professor said whilst showing various Japanese newspapers on the screen behind him.

"Wass ist this connection?" Nightcrawler asked.

"Well, only one way to find out. X-men, suit up." Cyclops said and they all stood up. The X-Jet was all ready and fueled up to take them to Japan within a few hours.

"Wasn't there a group of children in Japan that helped us out before in Japan?" Jean Grey asked Cyclops as they arrived in Kyushu, landing in a secluded part under the cover of trees close to where the body of the mutant was supposed to be.

"You mean the so-called Z warriors? Yes, they are, but its too dangerous for children to be involved don't you think?" Cyclops said. Jean explained to the others who they were. A group of teenagers, 2 of them martial artists that were taught in an ancient way of fighting. They teamed up when part of the X-men were captured by Krakoa the living island. But, Cyclops was right, they were just children, 2 of them still mere teenagers after all these years. As they exited the X-Jet they took on the scene. Cyclops and Jean hadn't been to Japan for years, the others had never been here at all except Nightcrawler. Angel immediately took to the skies. Nightcrawler teleported some short distances. They always wanted to stretch their legs after a flight.

"Do you guys smell something foul?" Nightcrawler asked, but nobody could smell anything, mostly because the smell of brimstone was everywhere from his teleporting. Jean was still thinking of those kids Cyclops mentioned.

"They are just kids Jean." He repeated.

"Yes i know they are just kids, but weren't they training for this martial arts tournament? The world martial arts tournament it was called i believe, i remember we had promised to come watch. Who was it who asked? Yamcha was it? Wasn't one of them a mutant as well?" She said. Cyclops did remember something like that, one of them had a mutation, a tail. His tail might be known, he might be in danger from mutant haters. They must be a lot older now, it was nearly 6 years ago. It reminded him of the old X-men, the first X-men.

"Alright, Jean, we will investigate the..." Cyclops began to speak but was interrupted from a voice afar.

"Did you people read my mind? I was about the contact you." Sunfire said, as he landed down next to the X-Jet. Cyclops shook his hand, Jean hugged him. Sunfire has the ability to absorb solar energy and release it in almost any way, including heat blasts and use for flight. His body was always warm, too warm for this kind of climate.

"I hope you can give us some information about what's going on here Sunfire." Cyclops asked as Sunfire was wrapping up greetings to the others. Sunfire looked down and sighed.

"I think its best to show you the body then. No local police have found it yet, i was sure to keep them out of it until i found out more. I didn't think the professor would have already been alerted by the death so quickly." He said as he led them to the scene of the crime.

"No, Professor X thinks there is more going on than a simple murder case." Angel mentioned as they came upon the scene. Sunfire nodded, he understood. He was one of the X-men some years ago but never really went out on a mission with them. His homeland called to him, he couldn't stay.

A body lay in the middle of a clearing, a big body. The stench was terrible.

"See? I told you i could smell it from the X-Jet." Nightcrawler said.

"So could i." They heard a voice say. Cyclops recognized him immediately. James "Logan" Howlett, The Wolverine.

"In fact, i could smell it in Tokyo." Wolverine said as he looked everyone over. He wasn't the one to shake hands, he did stare longer at Jean than anyone else though. Cyclops intervened the stare.

"Are you investigating this murder as well James?" Cyclops asked. Wolverine didn't like it when he called him his real name in public, but they were amongst friends so it didn't do any harm. Wolverine shrugged.

"Not until recently. I came to Japan when i heard an old friend had died, suicide they said but as soon as i saw the body i knew it was murder. Then, the smell. Nothing like it anywhere else. I figured it had to be a mutant i came across before. Seems i was right." Wolverine said.

"You know this man Logan?" Jean asked. Wolverine smiled at her.

"Yes, his name is Bacterian, from the Philipinnes. I fought him before." He said. Jean looked shocked for a moment.

"I didn't harm him, in fact he harmed me more than i him. No, it was for a martial arts tournament 2 years ago. The Tenkaichi Budokai. Met him in the preliminaries, only barely beat him. He can produce a vile stench from his mouth, so foul you can't help but faint." Logan said casually whilst bending over the corpse.

"That was his mutant power? Bad breath?" Iceman said.

"Oh it was more than that. He can make it so bad it can kill you. His mucus is quite toxic as well." Wolverine continued without looking up. He was picking away at some leaves and sticks laying around the body, he was smelling some of them as he picked them up.

"The wound is from some sort of blade, a hot blade since the wound is burned. The location of the wound is directly into the heart, a surgically precise strike." Jean Grey said as she examined the corpse opposite Wolverine.

"We've seen a wound like that before." Angel said. Wolverine grunted.

"Yes, it's hard to smell beyond Bacterians odour but i do pick up a scent i have smelled before. Like i smelled on the previous body. Psylocke." Wolverine said, looking at Jean. She nodded as she looked at Cyclops. He nodded as well. Yes, this is definitely the signature markings of the mutant Psylocke. She disappeared off their radar after their last encounter.

"So, the brotherhood of mutants is involved in this. Jean, you tell the professor. Nightcrawler, we are going to.." Cyclops wanted to continue but Wolverine interrupted him.

"This is not the working of the brotherhood of mutants. They ain't in the business of killing their own. I heard Psylocke had left the brotherhood some time ago. Since the red ribbon army disappeared from these regions certain organizations have been able to make use of the power vacuum that was created to gain land and manpower. I think she rejoined a much older organization, one far more dangerous than either those 2.

Look, something i have to tell you. The friend of mine, who was murdered as well, he fought in the last world martial arts tournament as well. Also, same kind of strike near the heart. Why Psylocke is killing these martial artists and for whom is not clear for me. The next tournament is close though, i suppose that's the reason why Bacterian was here already, to participate in this one as well. Its possible she is under contract to kill competition, to use the tournament to increase territory and gain money. I can assure you nobody from the brotherhood is in Japan right now." Wolverine said as he got up, cracked his neck and lit a cigar.

Cyclops thought for a moment. The professor did mention something else was going on, something dangerous, unknown.

"Alright then, fine. We are going to split up anyway. Wolverine, you in joining up to help find out these murders? Sunfire you too?" Both nodded. Wolverine sat on a broken branch and pointed to the side of his head.

"Seeing Bacterian again reminds me of the tournament 2 years ago. I met this group of kids, teenagers. One was named Goku i believe? Yes, he was a special kind of kid. A mutant, perhaps. He took out a wendigo during that tournament, one that i had been tracking. Eventually he ended up in the finals, but he lost to someone who disappeared right after the tournament, i lost to that guy as well so i don't blame him i guess. I'm sure he and his friend Yamcha are targeted as well. Also, King Chappa, Nam and Wolfman should be visited." Wolverine said. Good, Cyclops thought. Now he had to cleverly divide the teams.

"Yes, us 2 know of Goku and his friends. They are the first on our list." Jean said. Cyclops rubbed his forehead.

"Alright, Jean and Sunfire will look up King Chappa. Angel, Nightcrawler and Iceman, you will find Nam whilst Wolverine and i go find Goku and his pals, you know where they are, are they close by?" Cyclops asked Wolverine.

"I can find their scent easily. If i can get away from Bacterian's stench. They ain't far away from here." He replied. Cyclops nodded.

"Alright, both Nam and King Chappa are registered with the tournament so you can find their address back on the X-Jet. As soon as you find your target, you take him with you and visit Wolfman. Alright let's go." He said and no questions were asked, they just got into action, Cyclops felt pride fill him. Jean, Sunfire, Iceman, Angel and Nightcrawler all went to the X-Jet with Nightcrawlers teleport whilst Cyclops and Wolverine took off on foot.


	2. Chapter 2

After some time Cyclops found out what Wolverine called not far away took the whole day of jogging. Wolverine kept sniffing and dashing off when he got a scent. Cyclops was pretty sure he was just making it hard on him. They had never liked eachother but Cyclops did trust him, except with Jean. Eventually they got to the top of a hill and down below Cyclops spotted a small house, strangely new and clean in the middle of the woods. Wolverine signaled to him.

"There they are. Thats the same house i saw them in after the tournament. One of them is called Bulma, she is the daughter of Dr. Briefs, founder of the capsule corporation. I'm sure you are familiar." He said whilst smirking.

"I am, Beast is working on capsule tech to incorporate in the mansion. So you think they are all there?" Cyclops asked. Wolverine shrugged.

"Lets go knock on the door and find out." Wolverine said and jumped from the tree he was in and walked down the hill. Cyclops followed suit.

They knock on the door and an American looking, purple-haired girl opens up.

"Yes? Can i help you? Hé, i know you. Its Cyclops right?" She asks. Cyclops noticed how much she had grown since the last time he saw her. He extended his hand. She couldn't have been more than 14 years old last time he saw her, now, a 19 years old woman.

"Hi, yes it is. Its good to see you again Bulma. This is Wolverine, Logan. I believe you have met him before too some years ago during the 22nd world martial arts tournament?" Cyclops said, Wolverine shook her hand as well. As she looked Wolverine over she suddenly smiles.

"Ah yes i do remember you. You were one of the fighters! Yamcha look who has come to visit us?" She said. Behind her a muscular man came through the corridor. Yamcha had grown significantly, an adult now as well, very healthy looking. Cyclops smiled as he saw him and he happily smiled back. He had a distinctive Italian face, born in Milan as Cyclops could remember.

"Hello Yamcha, nice to see you again as well. Don't tell me you haven't left the country since we said our goodbyes 5 years ago?" Cyclops asked, Yamcha happily held up his arms and nodded towards Bulma.

"What can i say? Place has got me hooked after everything that has happened. Red Ribbon Army, Krakao, the tournament. The next tournament is close and i trained hard to compete again." Yamcha shooked the hands of the 2 men. "The Wolverine wasn't it? Yes, are you going to participate in the next tournament? It's only a month away." Yamcha asked. Wolverine sniffed.

"Not on my agenda bub. Last time i had business to attend to, if i participate i go in to win, i don't want to kill someone. Thats not allowed." He said and smirked. Yamcha looked surprised but then laughed out loud.

"Come on in men, what can we do for you?" Bulma asked as they were invited in the surprisingly large house.

"Actually this concerns all of you, where are to two youngsters Goku and Krillin?" Cyclops asked. As he thought about it Goku and Krillin must be 15 years old by now, not yet adults but definitely old enough to know what is going on.

"Where else? Training of course." Yamcha said with a smile. "By the way, didn't you promise to come to the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai? I didn't see you there, did you forget?" Yamcha asked sarcastically. Cyclops was a bit embarrassed.

"Uhm, something came up. You know, being an X-men doesn't give us much time off. Why, did you win?" He asked the last part as ironic as he could. Yamcha blushed, then looked down.

"Oh come on Yamcha, Wolverine is with Cyclops. If you didn't forget Wolverine was there, i'm sure he told Cyclops what had happened. It was a really good tournament, Jackie Chun surprisingly won. Don't worry, i was rooting for you the whole time Yamcha." Bulma said as she brought tea.

"Wait, i'll call Krillin." She then said as she sat down. She took her phone and called.

"Mobile phone huh?" Cyclops asked. "The Capsule corporation switching production focus?" He smiled at Bulma as she looked at him flustered a bit.

"Well yeah, capsules aren't new anymore. We have to make money with products from now. To compete with the big companies like Stark Industries. Communication is the future, the X-men might be sitting on all that fancy, mysterious technology in their mansion but the world is catching up." Bulma said like a businesswoman. "Ah yes Krillin? Hi its Bulma here, yeah can you guys come over the house for a little bit? Somebody here wants to talk to both of you, it sounds important. Okay? Thanks." She said and hung up. "Voicemail." She said.

"Voicewhat?" Wolverine asked. Bulma looked at him curiously. She then giggled.

"You men don't get out much do you?" She said. Suddenly Wolverine got up, he started sniffing the air and then grunted.

"So, do you guys have anything to do with the red ribbon army disappear..." Wolverine stopped mid-sentence and sniffed again.

"What is it Logan?" Cyclops asked and got to his feet as well, Yamcha got up before him.

"I smell..." He started to murmur and at that moment a figure came crashing down through the roof. Cyclops ducked whilst seeing purple flashes and a blue suit. Psylocke.

"Bulma get out of the room!" Yamcha yelled as he took up a fighting stance. Wolverine took out his claws when Psylocke gave him a kick in the face. He went spinning behind the couch whilst Yamcha came in with a flying kick. Psylocke dodged his attack though and tried an uppercut which Yamcha then blocked. She then swung around with her psi-blade which Yamcha cleverly dodged. He then tried a leg sweep but she cartwheeled out of the way right into the path of Cyclops. He grabbed her psi-blade arm and twisted it around her back, he heard her grunt as he twisted her arm around as far as he dared without breaking it.

"Cyclops, Wolverine. Wasn't expecting you here." Psylocke said, trying to wriggle free. She tried stepping on his foot but he avoided it, she also tried to headbutt him but he blocked it with his other hand. Wolverine got up from behind the couch, claws still out. Yamcha approached her.

"Who are you? Why did you attack us?" He asked a got up close in her face. She stopped wriggling for a moment. Before Cyclops could tell Yamcha to back off Psylocke gave a chuckle.

"Thanks." She said, then pushed off of Yamcha's body to make a flip over Cyclops, who lost his grip on her. She kneed him in his head, knocking him onto the ground. Wolverine jumped over the couch with a scream and slashed his claws at Psylocke but she blocked them with her psiblades. In the momentum of the movement Psylocke slid underneath him and pushed with both feet into his stomach. Next thing Wolverine knew he was flung over to the other side of the room and crashed into the wall so hard he went through. In a quick flash she grabbed the table in the middle of the room and smacked Cyclops against the side of his head as he tried to keep his balance from being hit in the back of the head.  
Cyclops was seeing stars as he too was flung against a wall. Yamcha kicked her in the head and did a rapid number of punches on her back before she grabbed his fist and twisted him around. In mid-air he recovered and planted a foot in her side. They moved so fast Cyclops had a hard time following them. She staggered back but retaliated with a heel kick in his face and then another leg sweep which knocked him on his ass. He recovered quickly again though and created what Cyclops could only describe as a ball of light from his right hand and planted it into her stomach. Psylocke gasped as it pushed her on the ceiling with a crash and a loud cracking sound and she bounced back onto the ground.  
Yamcha then calmed down for a second and allowed Psylocke to recover back on her feet. She tried a spinning heel kick and followed that by a spinning backhand but Yamcha dodge both of them. Cyclops saw Yamcha jump on top of Psylocke and grappled her into a vertical armbar. But he had forgotten about her blade and she swung it across his leg, slicing through the trousers and sending Yamcha in a scream of pain. He let her go instantly and as he fell backwards she turned and thrust her blade right into his shoulder. Yamcha went onto his knees. Psylocke readied her blade to give the fatal blow when Wolverine crashed into her from the side and through the other wall. Yamcha collapsed.

Cyclops got to his senses and rushed outside, seeing Wolverine and Psylocke wrestling on the ground, she had lost her Psi-blade. After a few kicks and hits Wolverine got the upperhand and hurt Psylocke badly with a knee. She rolled away but got up, flustered. Then Cyclops hit her with his optic blast. She flung away against a tree making a loud scream.

Wolverine and Cyclops waited for her to get up. She struggled up, grunting and holding her stomach. She looked at them for a moment, then ran.

Wolverine wanted to go after her but Cyclops stopped him.

"Let her go. Yamcha needs our help right now and Goku and Krillin are still on their way." He said, Wolverine grunted but didn't resist. He was a good guy. He withdrew his claws and climbed back into the home, Bulma was already concerning herself with the wounded Yamcha. She looked up with tears in her eyes as Cyclops also entered the house again through one of the destroyed walls.

"What happened to him? He doesn't appear to have any wounds. But he is in pain and barely conscious." She said, almost screaming. Cyclops hunched next to her, Yamcha was grunting, laying on his back, his leg twitched.

"Psylocke's blade doesn't always just cut the flesh, it cuts mentally moreso. Elizabeth Braddock is a powerful telepath and telekinetic, she conjures those blades from her mind. She has Yamcha's mind convinced that he is terribly hurt in the leg and shoulder." He said as he picked Yamcha up. The dude was a lot heavier than he looked, Wolverine helped him.

"Can you help him?" Bulma asked. Cyclops sook his head.

"Not us, only the professor or Jean could help him out quickly enough, but they are too busy right now. Best bet is..." He got cut off as 2 figures rushed into the house. Wolverine had already looked up, sensed them. Cyclops recognized them immediately but noticed they were much older now and had grown a bit, but not as much as he would have guessed given their age. Their clothes, orange gi and blue sandals were the same as before, as well as their hairstyle. Goku was still wearing that orange ball around his neck with 4 dark orange stars on it, he never seems to take it off. Cyclops remembers something about it being a gift from his grandfather who raised him. Goku's hair was black and spiky and Krillin was as bald as the professor, Cyclops wondered how they will grow up.

"Yamcha! What happened? Hé, i remember you. And you too!" Goku said first angry, then shocked, then surprised all in quick succession.

"We saw the destroyed walls outside. Were you attacked? By who, why?" Krillin asked. Goku rushed over to them to take a closer look at Yamcha then turned to Cyclops.

"I know you, its Cyclops isn't it? An X-man. Who did this to Yamcha? Was it the red ribbon army?" Goku asked, he was talking really fast and moving around a lot. Cyclops gestured him to calm down.

"The red ribbon army is gone kid. You guys took care of them well." Wolverine said. Goku turned to him.

"And you, i saw you at the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai. Wolverine, yes i was disappointed i couldn't fight you." Goku said. Cyclops sighed, Goku turned back to him.

"No this was not the red ribbon army, this was done by a mutant assassin named Psylocke." Cyclops said.

"A mutant? like you?" Goku asked.

"Yes, a mutant. But not like us. She is an assassin." Cyclops said, Goku looked puzzled. Krillin stepped in.

"Like Tao Pei Pei, Goku." He said, Goku looked like he remembered. He looked serious.

"Right, so how about Yamcha?" Goku asked.

"We have to take him to Stark Tower in Tokyo, it's the closest place where he can get help. Unless you know a psychic." Cyclops said as they went towards the front door which was still open.

"Couldn't we just give him a senzu bean?" Bulma asked. Goku grunted.

"That will probably work best, no doubt. Our stash is used up though. Gotta go to Korin to get more." And he darted ahead of Cyclops and Wolverine carrying Yamcha out the door.

"No wait." Cyclops said and Goku stopped. Cyclops explained what had happened, about the dead martial artists and the fact he and Krillin were targeted as well.

"That much is clear by now." Wolverine mentioned. "Psylocke is trying to take out all the fighters that participated in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai. We don't know why. We need help finding the others before they are killed. Psylocke escaped and is probably on her way to the next victim. We have to inform the others. We should go there to help fight Psylocke." Wolverine said.

"Right, which one is closest?" Goku asked, ready to go on the offensive as always. Cyclops weighed the options.

"I don't like splitting up yet again, we'll head to stark tower together and head for the others from there." Cyclops said. As they headed off Cyclops thought about Jean, sensing she was headed into trouble. He hoped she would be okay.


	3. Chapter 3

Jean and Sunfire arrived in Tibet just 4 hours after leaving the X-Jet over Bhutan. The others were on their way to Mumbai to find the martial artist Nam. They were here to find King Chappa at his home which is an ancient Buddhist temple. Somehow their arrival had been noticed though and they were met by anti-mutant protesters all the way towards the temple. Without her Sunfire would simply fly there and avoid the protesters but he can't carry her all the way, so they had to sneak in. Eventually at the gates they rang the bell and they were let in without trouble, to their surprise.  
A bunch of King Chappa's students opened up and escorted them to him. They entered a big, high room, all around were windows, high in the walls near the ceiling. A large Buddha statue stood at the far end of the room. There King Chappa was training with his students. Jean noticed his incredible speed and strength as he took on 4 of them at the same time, easily outmaneuvering them and knocking them on their asses. As they got closer King Chappa noticed them and halted the rest of his students to stop fighting. He immediately got handed a towel and a large bowl of water to wash by 2 other students.

"Greetings, X-men." King Chappa said. Jean was surprised he knew who they were. "Yes, your arrival is widely known, my radars picked you up before you crossed the borders. Mutants. People say you are a scourge on the world, a plague." He said. Sunfire and Jean stopped in front of him, he didn't offer his hands. Instead he crossed them.

"As a Buddhist i'm happy to open my doors to you, offer you food and accommodations, but, as a King i am afraid i also have a duty to protect my people. When i heard of your arrival i alerted my people, because they have a right to know, and they... Well, you know how they feel. So please, state your business here quickly and clearly and then begone." He said as he turned around towards the statue and sat on a small blanket on the ground. His students sat in a circle around him. Jean and Sunfire followed him and knelt in front of him.

"Is it true you participated in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai?" Jean asked bluntly. Chappa closed his eyes and nodded.

"Yes, i have." He said then opened his eyes again.

"2 martial artists who have competed have been murdered recently. We have reason to believe you are next. Will you accompany us along with the other participants back to Japan? Together we are stronger." Jean said looking him straight in the eyes. As she spoke she noticed he twitched at the words murdered and accompany. When she finished he laughed.

"The next Tenkaichi Budokai is only a month away, it seems kind of a coincidence these murders are taking place now. So someone is taking out the competition? Why should i be afraid? I wasn't planning on going until 2 weeks before the start, i will not go earlier, i have training to do." He said. Sunfire and Jean looked at each other, then sighed.

"They were killed by a very powerful mutant assassin by the name of Psylocke." Sunfire said. Chappa looked surprised.

"A mutant? I see, you see the irony of that don't you?" He said smirking. "So, a mutant assassin is killing martial artists. Any idea who she is working for?" He asked but they both shook their heads.

"I see, look, this is as much time as i am willing to give you mutants. I'm afraid you are going home empty handed." He said and stood up. Jean and Sunfire stood up as well. She could just force him to go, control his mind. But the professor clearly forbids that kind of thing, people always have the right to make their own decisions, even arrogant racists like King Chappa. She did read some of his mind, he hated mutants but his religion prevented him from acting out aggressively against them.

"She has already killed 2 highly skilled martial artists, like yourself, who even got further in the tournament then you did. Don't underestimate Psylocke." Jean said. King Chappa laughed again.

"Listen, how do you think i got you on radar so quickly? My borders are monitoring for mutants all the time, none can enter without my knowledge. None..." After he said those last words a student came into the room and ran towards them.

"King Chappa! We have found 2 guards dead at the north gate, sensors didn't go off and our camera didn't pick up anyone or anything. But it appears we have an intruder!" He said. King Chappa looked shocked, then looked at the 2. Jean turned to the student.

"How were they killed?" She asked. The student first looked at his king, who nodded. He then looked at Jean.

"They were stabbed to death." he said. Jean looked at King Chappa and nodded. King Chappa looked shocked.

"Impossible, no mutant can enter my country without my knowledge. Find her! Find her and..." Jean could hear a strange whistling sound, it came from up high, to her right. Her reaction was quick. With her telekinesis she pushed away 2, no 3 ninja stars out of the air aimed at King Chappa's body. They looked up, they saw a shadowy figure, ponytail, blades in hand. It moved quickly across the beams that made up the ceiling.

"Dammit!" Jean said and attempted to capture the figure with her mental abilities, but it was too quick.

"That you mutant friend?" King Chappa asked. Jean shook her head.

"No this is someone else. Not a mutant, one of your kind actually." She said. Sunfire took to the air and blasted his plasma bolts at it but it dodged and vaulted down towards the ground in the light. It was a girl, red clothes on, twin sai's in her hand. Elektra.

"I guess Wolverine was right. It's not the brotherhood that's behind this. Its Hand." Jean said out loud. Elektra looked at her, didn't speak.

"Well, use your mutant powers on her." King Chappa said.

"My telepathy doesn't work on Elektra. Long story." She said. King Chappa moved forward.

"Fine then." He said and gestured to his students who attacked Elektra. Meanwhile Sunfire was still in the air and threw a bunch of plasma blasts at her, but she dodged. Then she started working on the students, quickly taking out each and every one of them, deadly, effectively. They had no chance. King Chappa joined in after 5 of his students were dead on the ground. Elektra and Chappa clashed, using their best techniques on each other. Elektra was clearly having a lot more trouble with him than his students. Jean joined in with her telekinesis, trying to disarm her. Sunfire meanwhile closed in as well.

She put up a good fight, taking priority in trying to kill King Chappa. This way Sunfire and Jean could more easily hold her off, but not knock her out. King Chappa was struggling the most, dodging stabs from the sai's. At one point Sunfire got knocked away and Jean blinded by an elbow in the eyes. King Chappa was on his own for a moment. When Jean got her sight back she noticed Sunfire wasn't engaging again right away. This was noticed by Elektra and Chappa too who looked at him and saw him staring above. They followed his gaze and saw he was looking at a figure standing in a window high up in the tall walls.  
Elektra took a step back and seemed to relax at the sight of the figure which was still in the shadows. Sunfire on the other hand looked with total shock. The figure jumped down into the light. Jean let out a gasp, she had never seen anything like it. The figure was green, bulky, with large, leather wings on its back. It had the face of a frog and a devilish grin. It had a green tail with a point and wore black trousers. Elektra walked up to it and bowed with her sai's crossed before her.

"Greetings, you honor me with your presence." She said. The figure didn't look pleased.

"Why hasn't this man been killed yet? And who are the other 2?" He asked. Jean walked over to Sunfire quickly.

"Sunfire, what is that?" She asked, Sunfire still looked like he was seeing a ghost. He didn't look away from the creature.

"Ma... Ma... Mazoku. Impossible!" He said. At that King Chappa started to laugh. Elektra and the figure responded to that with surprise.

"Don't make me laugh. Mazoku's are a fairy tale. Supposedly demons, give me a break. That is obviously a mutant, one who flew in and avoided my sensors." He said. Meanwhile Sunfire stepped back.

"No, no. It's a Mazoku. My god. I... I can't." Sunfire kept saying. The figure stepped forward.

"Ah, so you know about us. Very good, very clever. Yes, my name is Tambourine. I suppose you have heard the legend of Piccolo Daimao then?" He asked. Sunfire calmed down a small bit but stuttered as he spoke.

"Y...Ye.. Yes. 150 years ago a great evil arose, Piccolo Daimao. A demon they said. He birthed... Children, demons with the same rotten personality as him, the formed a clan. They terrorized the earth for nearly 2 decades. Until, one day a famous, powerful martial artist named Mutaito confronted Piccolo and contained him, somewhere on Hokkaido or Sakhalin, some say in a kiln or a mine. The world returned to normal eventually, people forgot he ever existed. But some of us never did, some like my father and his father before him. Mutaito's teachings, his martial arts never died, the legend was kept around by a small group of families including my own. I know what you are, i know, Piccolo Daimao is released." Sunfire said, dread in his voice. Tambourine smiled, then laughed out loud.

"Haha, you know your history indeed. Yes, Piccolo Daimao has been released. And for that knowledge, you must die." He said, then moved faster than Jean and Sunfire could see. Next thing they knew, King Chappa's face went blank. A second later he dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Jean had to adjust for the surprising speed but caught Tambourine moving around them and try to hit them in the back, but Jean caught up with him just in time to block his move. Sunfire took to the air again, firing a single plasma blast before taking a distance. Jean was forced to dodge away and take a distance as well as Elektra joined in the fighting.

As Tambourine blocked the plasma blast Jean focussed on Elektra, having fought her before and knowing some of her moves she had the best chance to take her out first. She was wearing her standard ninja outfit, with a veil covering her mouth. Having her hands full of the sai's she couldn't move as fast, so Jean took advantage of that as best she could. She then used her telekinesis to knock her off balance as they vaulted and cartwheeled across the room. Tambourine meanwhile didn't look too busy, after blocking the plasma he just stood there, following Sunfire with his eyes, smirking.

"I'm sure Piccolo will be pleased if we killed the ones who would oppose his coming rule." He said, then flexed his wings and took to the air after Sunfire. In between keeping Elektra off her she saw Sunfire and Tambourine fight in the air, Sunfire seeming to behave erratic. Being distracted by that Elektra got the upper hand for a minute and kicked and punched her hard a couple of times. Then she flung her over her shoulder in the wall across the room. Jean was able to soften the blow with her powers. As she got up she looked up at Sunfire and Tambourine who just happened to have lowered the altitude as they were fighting, Sunfire seeming to run away more than fight.

"Sunfire! Are you okay? Get a grip!" She shouted at him.

"I can't do this, i can't be fighting a Mazoku. My dad warned about them. They say... they say that if one touches your blood you are cursed and go to hell. I can't.. We must retreat, retreat!" he started shouting, louder and louder. Then, he bolted for one of the many windows and left her behind. Jean was shocked at what she just saw. He ran. Tambourine seemed to want to go after him but stopped at the window and laughed out loud. He then turned to Jean.

Jean got up, now it was 2 against 1. From a distance she could see Elektra getting ready to attack and Tambourine started a charge at her from the air. There was only 1 thing to try. She made a telepathic link with Tambourine. Inside his head she poked around, not knowing what to find in the mind of a demon. On the astral plane, a dark, shadowy platform, he roamed around. So much chaos, evil, death.  
Tambourine didn't have a lot of thoughts, just a vessel. She saw what must be Piccolo Daimao, towering over her. He was green, bald and wrinkly. He had pointy ears and a narrow mouth. He must be over 2 meters high. She saw more, memories, feelings, goals. Tambourine's mind wasn't all that strong she noticed, maybe not easy to control but easy to manipulate. She made a decision. As Tambourine was charging she took over for a short second and made his body fly towards Elektra, hitting her fully from the side. They both rolled across the floor only to come to a stop as they hit the big Buddha statue. Elektra was knocked out but Tambourine got up easily. Tough body. He looked behind him at Elektra, then back to Jean. He wasn't smiling anymore.  
He took to the air again. He held out his arm and from the palm of his hand a ball of light appeared, started making noise too. Realizing what it was Jean jumped aside quickly as the ball of energy was blasted at her at incredible speed. It hit the floor and blasted her off her feet. She heard him make another one, and another. She kept dodging as best she could but he was getting closer with the hits. She did something she had never done before, she prayed. Something must be possible against such evil. The last one nearly hit her and she was flung up into the air and landed hard on her back.  
Dazed, she crawled to her feet looking into the air as Tambourine made another ball of energy. She couldn't get into his mind anymore, she was probably concussed. As she stepped back and Tambourine was ready to fire they heard a commotion from outside. They both looked at the windows and from it figures came rushing through. Cyclops, Wolverine and the 2 kids known as Goku and Krillin Jean immediately recognized, though they had grown a bit. Wolverine screamed and immediately threw himself upon Tambourine who had to cancel his ball of energy to grab Wolverine's arms.

From the corner of her eyes Jean saw Elektra had come to and approached them but was stopped in her tracks by Goku and Krillin.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hé you, stop! Why are you doing all this? Well?" Goku asked Elektra, she wasn't going to talk. Instead she charged them both. Both martial artists were ready though, dodging her sai's with expert timing and countering her every move. Elektra kept taking them on at the same time though, showing some moves Jean actually hadn't seen. The kids were clearly struggling against her to their surprise.  
Knowing Wolverine and Cyclops had the experience and age Jean decided to help them out. She rushed over and used her powers to throw objects at Elektra and still try to disarm her. The 3 of them seemed to get the upper hand over her, so much so that eventually she dropped the sai's and was now fighting with her bare hands. She focussed on Krillin first, clearly the weaker of the 2 and managed to punch him away far enough that she could take on Goku on her own. Her techniques kept on speeding up. Goku took a distance and in an instant build up a ball of energy in his hands.

"Kamehameha!" He screamed as a beam of energy approached Elektra. She blocked it with her arms though, taking on the full force. She was pushed backward but with a backflip managed to stay upright. Her vail fell off though, showing her smile.

"That's a neat trick kid. KI attacks. Yeah i've been taught some of that myself." She said then stretched one hand out, pointing her finger at Goku.

"Dodonpa!" She screamed and a beam of energy came from her finger. Goku was taken completely by surprise and got the full hit on his body. It tossed him backward where Krillin caught him.

"Goku!" Krillin screamed, Goku's body was all bruised and blackened, his clothing ripped. Jean thought he might be dead but then she noticed his brain activity.

"He's not dead, he just out of it for a little." She said to Krillin as she rushed over. She touched Goku's forehead. A moment later Goku shook awake. He didn't have time to figure out what happened to him because Elektra was right upon them again, kicking Jean away hard, causing her to slide across the floor. She then punched Goku in his stomach while he was lying on his back, then spin-kicked Krillin but he blocked her attack and countered with an elbow causing her to fly into the air. With a backflip she landed on her feet and immediately dashed towards Krillin again who was ready for her. They skirmished for a bit and as they did Goku got back on his feet, holding his belly.

Jean looked at the other fight going on. Wolverine was going berserk, probably because it appeared his claws had little effect on Tambourine, who healed quickly from each slash. Cyclops couldn't do much except limit Tambourine's movement with his eyes, he and Jean weren't quick enough to match that kind of speed. But Wolverine was managing to keep him occupied, but barely. She looked back at Goku again.

"Goku! Help Krillin out. I'll assist Wolverine." She said. Goku looked surprised but then serious and nodded. He took a few breaths then seemed to flex his muscles, angry look on his face. Then he dashed for Elektra who was now skirmishing the 2 children at the same time. Jean got up and with her telekinesis broke some of the ceiling and it came crashing down on Wolverine and Tambourine.  
Wolverine saw it coming and dodged but Tambourine was too late a took on the weight of a giant piece of concrete. That gave Wolverine the time to slash Tambourine's waist and Tambourine came crashing down, landing hard with the piece of the ceiling on top of him. The shaking of the floor took Jean off balance and as she scrambled up she saw Krillin and Goku had the upper hand against Elektra, though Elektra had hurt them both. Eventually a beam of red light hit Elektra square in the face and she toppled backward and slammed hard in the wall.  
Wolverine approached the fallen ceiling but was hit by the large piece as Tambourine came from under it, hardly being hurt it seemed. Elektra was out though and Goku and Krillin came closer. Tambourine looked at the two kids and his eyes went wide for a moment. He seemed to be confused for a moment and looked around, surrounded by all 5 of them. He then rushed over to Goku, head on, very aggressively. It took Goku by surprise and he took a few hard hits before Krillin and Wolverine grabbed Tambourine and threw him to the center of the room again.

The next moment he looked angry, looked around again and then shot up into the air and out the window. They all watched him go. Then they turned back to where Elektra was laying but noticed she had disappeared. They had escaped. Cyclops rushed over to Jean and caressed her face.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Jean smiled and kissed him.

"I'm fine, man that was quite a battle. I failed, Chappa was murdered." She said, then looked at Goku and Krillin. She bowed.

"Thank you for the rescue. If you hadn't shown up I might have been killed. How did you get here so fast?" She asked.

"We dropped Yamcha off at Stark tower then took a Stark jet here, Goku and Krillin here flew on a cloud." Cyclops said really casually. Jean blinked a few times, did he say cloud? Seeing how she was confused Goku, after wiping off his bloody nose, whistled. From one of the windows a yellow cloud came in and stopped in front of Goku.

"This is Nimbus, a gift from Master Roshi. Only people with a pure heart can use it so Cyclops and Wolverine had to take the jet." He said. Jean walked over, touched the cloud. It felt soft and warm, it put a smile on her face and for a moment she forgot about how she was almost killed and how Sunfire just took off. She pushed her hands on it, its wobbled a bit as she put almost all her weight on it. It must be nice to fly this.

"Where is Sunfire?" Wolverine asked. She explained what had happened.

"Mazoku? Never heard of that before." Wolverine said. "I don't understand though, both Elektra and Psylocke are helping these Mazoku's kill martial artists? Why? What does Hand have to gain?" He asked.

"Hand?" Goku and Krillin asked. Cyclops turned to them.

"The Hand is an old, evil organization, Satanists basically who want to "dishonor God by killing everything he created." I suppose it makes sense they work alongside a demon. If only we knew more about this Piccolo Daimao." He explained.

"This Piccolo Daimao sounds strong, he is probably stronger than one of his children are." Goku said with more of an expression of excitement on his face than fear. Krillin didn't look so excited.

"What if he made more? More like Tambourine? The ninja girl was good, but Tambourine was on a whole different level, we felt it." Krillin said, Goku nodded in agreement. Cyclops sighed.

"We must contact the others, tell them to pick us up and then go back to Japan, can't leave Yamcha alone there too long, he is still in danger, we don't know where. If we bring Nam with us we have all but 1 of the martial artists. Then, we lay a trap." He said. They all nodded in agreement. They left to contact the other X-men.

In India the others had met no trouble, Nam was willing to come along immediately, having planned to go to Japan soon anyway. They picked the others up in Tibet and headed back for Japan.

Back in Stark Tower at Osaka they rendezvoused with Yamcha and Bulma, Goku taking a detour of his own to get what they called Senzu beans from a martial arts master named Korin. Goku didn't need one though, having already healed from his wounds. All he felt was hungry, almost always.

"How is Yamcha doing now?" Jean asked Bulma who looked concerned.

"Not well, I don't understand, the senzu bean didn't work. Then again, there is no physical damage." She said. Jean nodded slightly.

"Yes, Psylocke's blades cause mental damage as well as physical, sometimes even only mental. I don't think these beans can heal such a wound. At least not as far as I and Cyclops can tell. We would like to have a sample to send to Beast back in the mansion, I'm sure he can analyze them." She said. Bulma looked at Goku for a moment, then shook her head.

"I don't think Korin will be okay with that, someone experimenting with the beans, I never did either. They might lose their properties." She said. Jean understood what she meant. Shame though, these senzu beans are amazing from what she heard, can even cure paralysis. Might help the professor. But, it's not theirs to take.

"Yamcha will be fine in a while, his mind will heal. I can help him with some meditation and he knows tai chi doesn't he?" She asked. Bulma nodded slightly. Poor girl, she is really worried about him. Reminds her of the time Yamcha and Goku help fight Krakoa, she was very protective of him then too. They had matured really well though, she could tell.

"I want to fight this Piccolo." Goku said, anger in his voice, fists clenched.

"Easy now Goku." Master Roshi said. He was the teacher of Goku, Krillin and Yamcha and was telling everyone about the Piccolo Daimao, revealing he was an old student of Mutaito himself. "You cannot defeat Piccolo daimao, he is not of this world. He is not some general to beat like in the red ribbon army, he is a demon king." Roshi said.

"Do you believe he made more of his children?" Jean asked Roshi. He smiled at her, very creepy and Jean had multiple times warned him not to touch her ass, even had to smack him across the face one time. He nodded.

"Yes, Piccolo will try to do what he tried to do all that time ago. Back then we didn't have your fancy planes or mobile phones, it took a long time to mount a defense against the Mazoku. He basically took control of all of Japan and Korea and was expanding his territory constantly. If it wasn't for Mutaito the Earth would have been overrun in a decade. There were hardly any metahumans around, mutants as you are called. We had to do it with old fashioned martial arts, techniques and secrets going back centuries, some even millennia. Eventually Mutaito developed the evil containment wave. It was on Sakhalin where he trapped Piccolo Daimao in a kiln, sealed him off forever. Or so we all thought. I saw him do it, I am the only one who did." As Roshi talked he stood completely still, holding his cane.

"What happened to Mutaito then?" Jean asked. Roshi looked up, it took him a moment to answer.

"He died, the evil containment wave is deadly to use. I buried him myself." He said, they weren't expecting that. The room fell silent for a moment.

"What about other students? Are you the only one left?" Cyclops asked finally. Roshi shook his head though.

"No, there are others, still alive like me. But most are dead, their teachings either died with them or were past on by the fewer and fewer students we got. By the start of the 20th century hardly anyone was interested in the old martial arts schools anymore. The ones in Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, they all disappeared, their techniques are probably lost forever unless there are surviving students. The turtle school, which is mine, and the crane school are the only ones who still recruit new students." He said, looking at nothing whilst talking, his big sunglasses reflecting everything in front of him.

"Well, what about the crane school then? Could they help?" Cyclops asked. But Roshi frowned, bowed his head and then shook his head firmly.

"I am afraid the crane school is in league with the Hand. That female assassin, Elektra. Goku told how she fired a KI blast at him called Dodonpa. That's a crane school technique." He said. They were all shocked at this. "It's not the first time this sort of thing has happened. Some students, some teachers turned evil and started using their martial arts for crime, greed and lust for power. The crane school is one of those few. Shen, the teacher, is an evil man, always had been. I warned Mutaito about him but it was all in the middle of the crisis, Mutaito couldn't afford to lose any students. When Piccolo Daimao was trapped and Mutaito died we went our separate ways, Shen taking in students that were cruel and full of hate, your acquaintance Elektra fits that bill. I'm positive she is not the only one. Not only humans either. Mutants and other metahumans as well. The Hand is typically the type of organization that would interest Shen and they can help each other training people for their cause." He said. Cyclops and Jean looked at each other.

"Psylocke probably too. She is a member of Hand." They both said. Roshi slowly nodded, acknowledging this might be possible. Cyclops got a call, probably from the professor who was watching all this through Cerebro. After the call Cyclops thanked Roshi for the story and told them all to gather.

"Alright, alright. Here is the deal. The professor has identified Tambourine's signal, he registers very strangely in Cerebro but the professor was able to track him. Elektra has always been able to elude Cerebro but not Psylocke, she is out on the sea. Tambourine however, is just by the coast to the south part of Shikoku. He looks to be waiting. Now here is the deal, we originally wanted them to come to us, but it seems Tambourine is waiting for us now. There is still one more martial artist to collect though, Wolfman am I right?" He asked Wolverine who nodded. "Right, his real name is Yuri Chapayev and lives in Irkutsk, quite a long way from here. Goku, how fast is your nimbus cloud?" He asked, turning to Goku.

"He is faster than your jets." Goku said. Cyclops nodded.

"Good then, you and Krillin go pick him up there. Then.." He wanted to continue but was interrupted by Goku.

"No way! I'm not picking someone up while we just found out where Tambourine is, we set up the trap, let's spring it now. We all go there and confront him. He has to be stopped!" He said, fire in his eyes. Cyclops thought that over for a moment, Goku and Krillin were pretty good fighters, familiar probably with Elektra's fighting style by now, probably able to match Psylocke too. But alone, they might not be enough to beat Tambourine. He rather have someone capable pick Yuri up, who might be visited by Elektra soon. But Goku wants to go after Tambourine, now.

"Alright, X-men, you go find Wolfman, all of you should be enough to take on Elektra if you have to, Jean, you stay here and protect Yamcha. Goku, I know I can't really stop you from confronting Tambourine, so I'm going with you. I'm hoping for volunteers. Although I hope the other martial artists will decide to stay here. Psylocke and Elektra don't know you are here, you'll be safe from them." He said, he noticed only 1 person was hesitant, Krillin. Nam stood up immediately though.

"I'll go with you." He said. Cyclops waved his finger at him.

"No way, sorry. You are no match for these people, you are safe here. Our first plan was to lure them here, but now we split up the risk is too high."

"I'll go of course." Wolverine said. Cyclops nodded at him. He didn't like him much, but he was a good man, knew when to step up, be there. He respected that. Well, it was as good as a backup as he was going to get. Him, Goku and Wolverine were going to confront Tambourine, not knowing how strong he was, not knowing where the assassins were, nor Hand.

"Alright, Nightcrawler you stay here with Jean, protect Yamcha and Bulma alongside Nam and Krillin. Its unlikely Psylocke or Elektra will come here, but just on the safe side. But stay on full alert. If they come, get them out of here. Iceman and Angel, you go collect Wolfman. Let's get to it." He said, they then scattered.


	5. Chapter 5

On board of the X-Jet, on the way to where Tambourine was waiting Goku told Cyclops and Wolverine about their adventures, stories about fighting the red ribbon army in China, their time together when they fought living island Krakao. He told about how much he learned since then, his special training with Korin, fortuneteller Baba, his reunion with his grandfather Gohan. Amazing stories. They arrived in just under an hour, exiting the X-Jet well away from Tambourine.

Tambourine was standing there, smirking. Goku rushed up to him, Cyclops and Wolverine had to rush to keep up with him, he was fast.

"You, you are a murderer! Unforgivable!" Goku said, furious. Wolverine and Cyclops went up in front of him, he was still a kid and despite a great fighter they still needed to protect him. Tambourine laughed out loud.

"After I get rid of you two the child and I are going to have a nice little chat. Don't run away now, I'll be with you in a second." He then dashed at Wolverine and Cyclops. Cyclops immediately shot his lasers at him but he actually deflected his first blasts. He set it to full power right away and that blast caught Tambourine full in the torso, blasting him back. But he recovered quickly, fast enough to block Wolverine going at him with his claws. Like before he managed to turn the tables on Wolverine and make him go on the defense, showing great skill and speed with his arms mostly. His wings gave him extra maneuverability. As Wolverine was knocked back and he dodged Cyclops's blasts with ease Goku came into the picture. He made a couple of moves Cyclops couldn't even fully register and a moment later Goku had Tambourine in an arm hold.

"Hit him!" Goku said to Cyclops who complied and blasted Tambourine again with his full power, but it did little good it seemed. Goku then grappled with him in mid-air and managed to throw Tambourine over his shoulder towards the ground.

"Kamehameha!" He shouted and a bright beam of energy came from his hands and blasted at Tambourine who couldn't get away in time, he screamed as he raised his arms to hold the wave of energy but was overwhelmed and seemed to disintegrate in front of Cyclops his eyes. He was gone. Goku eased on down towards the ground, like a dragonfly touching down on a leave. He never saw anything like it before, Cyclops had his suspicions before but now knew for sure Goku was a mutant, a very powerful one too. He ran towards him.

"You okay Goku? That was amazing!" He said, Goku smiled as he caught his breath.

"Well, it seems he was still very wounded and exhausted from his earlier fight with Jean and the rest of us. If he was fully healthy I wouldn't have had a chance like that. Still, it was only a small chance and I had to act quickly. I hope you don't mind." He said, Cyclops laughed. Wolverine had gotten up by now, cranky of course that he got tossed around like that.

"I gotta find some time to learn some of those moves Goku. I feel outdated." Wolverine said as he shook his hands.

"Alright, now that monster is gone, one of his children. How do we proceed?" Wolverine asked.

"Well, I'd like to know why he said he wanted to talk to Goku, not kill him." Cyclops asked.

"Perhaps he wanted to know where the other martial artists were hiding." Wolverine said. Cyclops shrugged.

"He could have gotten that from us as well. He wanted Goku specifically." He said.

"Well I was still a target to be killed, perhaps that was all." Goku said.

"Hm, I don't know. Well, I'm going to contact the professor, he will be able to use cerebro to locate Psylocke and perhaps find Piccolo for us too. Would be a great advantage to know where he is. Excuse me." Cyclops said and he walked away. Goku and Wolverine sat down in the grass, looking at the small crater where Tambourine once was. A couple of minutes later Cyclops returned with a grim look on his face.

"I talked to the professor. He said he located Piccolo, he has landed by ship on Kyushu island, right this minute. His mind was blocked before but now he can see it, and it scares him." He said, the other 2 got up and headed straight for the X-Jet, Cyclops calling Jean about whats going on but telling her to sit tight. naturally she insists on coming.

"I'll go get her." Wolverine said. Cyclops didn't like that at first but it seemed there was no choice. Nightcrawler was enough to babysit, he could teleport them out if he needed.

"I'll call nimbus, we can go on him together I think, if i carry you." Goku said grinning.

"Fine, let's do it like that. Wolverine you go get Jean with the X-Jet and we'll head for Piccolo's location." He said, and they were off.

* * *

Captain America looked out over the edge of the Helicarrier, down below was Japan. The last time he was here it was 1942, he destroyed a base where they were working on a secret weapon in Yokohama harbor. The island still looked the same, the cities probably didn't. They lowered the helicarrier fast, towards the coast where Piccolo Daimao would land. From Fury the Avengers had learned all they could about this creature, this demon. He had to be stopped. They had called for the help of Dr. Strange but he didn't seem as interested as they would have thought, the arrogant man had told them this demon wasn't as dangerous as they may think. Well, Fury and Steve thought differently.  
Hearing he worked with Hand, or in reality, being the leader of Hand, his actions had to be cut short before his evil took root into the world as it did before. According to SHIELD archives and spies Piccolo could corrupt anyone he touches, make them his followers, make them Hand agents. Besides HYDRA, Hand was probably the most dangerous organization on the planet. Steve was wondering if Piccolo was the creature they actually worshipped, a creature SHIELD only knew as "the beast". Piccolo had been locked in a Kiln on Sakhalin island for 150 years now, Hand continuing their activity but always in the shadows. Now, they were openly declaring war on SHIELD, their activities changing to daylight terrorist attacks and assassinations.

They took a helicopter to the surface and the Avengers disembarked onto the beach. Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Iron Man looked at ease, confident. Steve understood, but he knew that when fighting an unknown opponent you have to keep alert and careful. No matter how much you read about an enemy you can only truly know him until you met face to face. He wished Thor was here, but he was in Asgard at the moment.  
Like Steve, Thor knew how to not underestimate an enemy, not since he underestimated Loki. Also he was their only metahuman besides Hulk, who was less reliable, and a hammer that can crack a mountain. Could be useful against a centuries old demon. But he had to trust his vibranium shield, Hawkeyes keen eyes, Black Widows tactical skills, Iron Man's technology and Hulk's ability to smash. In the distance they saw a ship approaching, from the side Iron Man could tell it was the property of Emperor Pilaf, a small-time crime lord operating in Japan.  
Guess he joined Hand as well, under pressure from Piccolo no doubt. As it beached itself the front of the ship opened up. 2 Mechs exited piloted by a girl with long black hair and a mutant with the face of a fox. They turned opposing each other and gave the Hand salute. Behind them a dozen Hand ninjas exited as well, taking position beside the Mechs and imitating the salute. From the shadows of the belly of the ship came a figure, a rather large figure. Standing at least 7 foot 5 inches he was as big as Hulk was. Green skin, wrinkled face with a small mouth he didn't look that demonic except for the pointed ears and long, sharp fingernails. No horns, no wings. Steve already knew there was more to this character than they had read. A lot more.

As he exited Piccolo Daimao looked at the Avengers, weighing them in. He turned to the girl in the mech suit and asked her who they were. She looked bewildered for a moment and told him they were the Avengers. He sniffed at that and walked over towards them.

"Did you come here to stop me or join me?" He asked casually. Steve looked at Hawkeye who shrugged and raised his bow at Piccolo. Iron Man raised his arms, Black Widow pulled out her Beretta and Captain America raised his shield. Hulk smashed the ground, lightly. Piccolo Daimao smirked at them. Hawkeye fired his arrow, Black Widow unloaded her clip, Iron Man fired his repulsors and Steve threw his shield.

The arrow bounced off Piccolo's body, like against a wall. The bullets hit him but hardly seemed to harm him, the 2 repulsor shots he deflected with 1 arm, the shield he dodged. It bounced back on the ship with 2 ricochets and went straight for the back of Piccolo's head but he dodged again. Steve caught his shield and put it back on his left arm.

"Hm, how disappointing." Piccolo said, wiping some dust from his chest where the bullets hit.

"HULK SMASH!" The big guy pushed Steve out of the way and charged Piccolo head on. Piccolo reacted now, bared his teeth, spread his legs apart and bent his elbows back. As he came closer Hulk readied for a punch and as he punched his fist was blocked by both of Piccolo's hands who was pushed back by the force. He grunted, both did. Piccolo managed to push the punch upwards, he wanted to counter but was surprised by Hulk's speed and had to dodge a second punch from Hulk's other arm. Deftly he bend forward, twisting his body in one swift motion around Hulk's body to his flank, then grappled the elbow and shoulder and twisted. It was a perfect maneuver, Steve saw that immediately. Hulk's momentum sends him flying towards the ship, crashing into the hydraulics system that controlled the ramp, he shattered it and a good part of the ship's bodywork, landing inside the ship, his weight clearly tipping the ship to one side.

Steve took the initiative again, rushing Piccolo. Piccolo nodded to his Hand henchmen as he readied to face the Captain.

"Take care of those 3 other nuisances, this one is mine." He said before Steve got close to him. The 2 in the mechs jumped up at the same time, the girl going for Hawkeye and Black Widow whilst the other attacked Iron Man, both were flanked by 6 ninjas each. Steve used his shield as a melee weapon, able to hold against this guy's blows which were both fast and hard, really hard.

"Tony, can you deactivate those mechs?" He asked in the midst of dodging and countering. Piccolo fought like a young boxer, forwards and direct.

"I am trying captain but they are pretty well firewalled, give it a minute." Tony said, flying around dodging the mech that was going after him, a mech showing a new ability with every move. Currently it was extending its arms to grab Tony by the legs, it also had rocket boots and an array of weapons. Clint and Natasha were having equal trouble with the other mech and ninjas, though already 2 of them were down with arrows sticking out their faces. Meanwhile, Steve was fighting this creature that kept on speeding up its attacks, kept on predicting his moves. Despite his mastery of many martial arts Steve couldn't find any weaknesses in this guy's defenses, he was using a martial arts style he had never seen before. His shield protected him from his most vicious blows though Steve wasn't totally defenseless without it. He could keep up this pace for quite a while but he knew so did Piccolo. He needed assistance.

"Any time would be great Tony." He said, careful not to be distracted as Piccolo was using up almost all of his attention by now.

"Almost there... This Capsule corps tech is tricky, always has been. Got it." Tony said, the mech attacking him stopped boosting towards him, now hanging in mid-air, its momentum the only thing keeping it in the air. Tony gave it a blast from his repulsor and the thing bent and broke and started burning. The guy inside it scrambled out quickly, using a parachute to exit it right before it blew up. Steve was about to tell Tony to assist Hawkeye and Black Widow first but he noticed Hawkeye had placed a careful arrow and managed to shut down the other mech as well.  
Though Clint seemed to have been injured at his waist. Half of the Hand assassins were dead now, the other half were either being chased by Iron Man or standing around Piccolo and Steve obviously trying to avoid the other Avengers. He was relieved but at that same moment a bit too distracted and Piccolo got the upper hand, punching his shield away and hitting him full in the face, grabbing his left arm and swinging him across the field. He tumbled and rolled and used his shield to brake himself. He watched Piccolo look up and raise his arm against Tony high in the sky.  
A ball of energy grew in his palm to the size of a beach ball and was released like a cannon shot. The sound coming from it was terrifying, like nothing cap had heard before, it travelled at tremendous speed. The energy inside must be huge. Tony reacted just in time though, firing a blast from his chest that crashed onto the ball of energy right in front of him. It exploded with such force Cap felt the shockwave on the ground. Tony was flung back and came crashing down the earth but didn't seem too much damaged, but knocked out all the same. Piccolo turned his attention to Hawkeye and Black Widow, his face full of fury. He blasted at them as well but they barely dodged all and managed to take a distance before Steve stopped him and started going hand-to-hand again. Hawkeye and Black Widow were out, Tony was out. In the corner of his eyes he saw Hulk was up again, pissed off and ready for round 2. He begged he would sneak up, but Hulk was Hulk.

"Hulk mad! Hulk smash puny green man!" He shouted as he ran out the ship, grabbing 2 of the ninjas by their heads and smacking them together before throwing their lifeless bodies behind him. He came at Piccolo from behind, Piccolo being aware dodged without looking, Steve being forced to use his shield to block Hulk's punch that missed tremendously. Hulk wasn't a fool though, if he wanted someone, he was going to get them and he had grabbed Piccolo by his waist with his other arm and headbutted the demon as he tried to twist around. Piccolo scratched Hulk's face with his claws before stumbling back from the blow. Steve expected blood to come out of his nose but instead Piccolo seemed unharmed. Hulk healed quickly from the scratch and another fist landed in Piccolo's stomach. He lurched over, spitting out saliva but still no blood. Steve wanted to join in, but Piccolo recovered remarkably quick. He used his speed against Hulk again, twisting the big guy's arms, swooping his legs underneath him, going for the weak spots like a true martial artist. The weak spots like the throat and ears didn't work on Hulk though. Realizing that Piccolo took a distance again. Hulk's arms were dislocated but he popped them back in with ease, recovering like he always did in seconds. As Steve came up from his flank Piccolo raised his arms and charged up another energy ball in front of him, this one grew and grew. Eventually Steve was stopped dead in his tracks by the sheer force of the energy emitted. Steve had never seen anything like it. The ball became the size of Hulk himself.

"Begone!" The demon king shouted and the ball of energy fired at Hulk who tried to catch it with his hands, holding it for a moment. It was too much though and Hulk was launched off his feet towards the sea, the ball of energy shooting upwards and into the clouds. With a splash so far away not even Steve could hear it Hulk was gone. He had never seen power like that before, what kind of creature was this? Not a simple demon, although he didn't seem to bleed. Wanting to break that idea, Steve attacked. The guy was fast and a good martial artist, but so was Steve.  
The super serum made him so much more durable and strong and agile than an average human, but his senses were enhanced as well, his stamina, his reflexes. Steve had been trained in almost all Martial arts and although not a true master of all of them, he knew his stuff. This guy used a technique that Steve could recognize as being eastern in origin, Karate and probably some ancient form of Shaolin Kung Fu, Wushu and some drunken boxing as well. He recognized elements of those techniques in Piccolo's moves. Steve was a quick learner, invented ways to counter on the spot. Making sure not to be grabbed or get hit with Piccolo's full strength he managed to find some openings, whilst getting some hits himself.  
The more annoyed Piccolo got the more shots Steve got in until eventually he got a good hit with his shield on Piccolo's nose and there it was, blood. Green blood to be precise. Piccolo stopped fighting and wiped his nose, looking at his hand with his own blood on it. Annoyed before, Steve could tell he was really pissed now. Flexing and bulging up his muscles it would seem Piccolo was only just now taking this fight seriously. Before he could move though he seemed distracted from something behind Steve. Steve turned around and was surprised when an old man with sunglasses on approached slowly, in one hand a stick, the other behind his back.

"Who are you?" Steve said. "Back up old man, this is no place for old-timers like you." He said, the man seemed to ignore him though, walking past Steve like he wasn't even there. Steve saw that in the hand behind his back the old man was carrying what seems to be a rice cooker.

"Sir? Excuse me. Sir? You really need to get out of here, it's not safe." Steve repeated, stepping towards the man and reaching for his arm. Moving like water and almost unseen the man batted away Steve's hand and kept on walking. Baffled Steve watched him go, until he was just a couple of meters away from Piccolo and stopped. Piccolo looked at him with fury in his eyes. Then the old man threw the rice cooker onto the ground between them, the lid open. Only now did Steve notice some Japanese symbols on the cooker. As far as he could tell it said "Demon Seal".

As Piccolo saw it as well his eyes went bigger, sweat came onto his face and he stepped back.

"What? How... No...No... That's impossible!" Piccolo said, fear in his voice like no other. Then Steve remembered seeing pictures, on the helicarrier, images taken by SHIELD cameras of the kiln where Piccolo had supposedly been contained. On the door, the same words were written. It must be a containment ritual, so it was true. Piccolo was a demon. The old man next took a martial arts stance, made a long row of very complex hand gestures and raised his arms towards Piccolo.

"Mafuba!" He yelled and what happened next Steve could only describe as magic. The world seems to turn green, tumbling. It was like a wormhole had opened that brought a violent storm, Steve had to protect his eyes from dust kicking up and he could see Black Widow and Hawkeye at a distance holding onto each other. Piccolo was sucked into that vortex, tumbling around, screaming his lungs out.

The old man swirled his arms around, increasing the tumbling of the world, Steve almost fell over. Piccolo in the meantime deformed greatly in the twister, his face stretched out making it look like he was screaming his face apart. Next the old man moved his arms with extra force downwards, Steve could see Piccolo's form being dragged along and came plunging down straight for the rice cooker which was trembling from the wind, the lid shaking up and down. Just as Piccolo was about to hit the cooker, the lid closed a bit too much and Piccolo's body bounced off it, sending the cooker flying off and a big bright flash of light taking over the green vortex. Steve was almost knocked off his feet when the shockwave came, then the wind stopped and the air cleared.

Steve blinked a couple of times looking at the rice cooker lying on its side and the body of the tall demon Piccolo sprayed on the ground on his stomach. The old man had his arms down, he was breathing heavily. Steve could hear him whisper ever so lightly.

"I missed." Then he fell over, lifeless.


	6. Chapter 6

At that time multiple things happened. From behind him Steve could hear the bushes shake, he sensed 2 people, one tall one small. To his left Black Widow and Hawkeye were standing up and dragging Iron Man out of the dirt. Piccolo meanwhile was moving and slowly getting up, grunting and moaning as he did. Steve looked behind him as Cyclops and a little boy in an orange suit came out of the bushes. The little boy looked with scared eyes.

"Old man?" The kid said. Steve recognized him now of the photos, his name was Goku.

"OLD MAN!" He then screamed and ran up to the body of the old man. He grabbed him and started shaking him. Cyclops ran after him.

"Goku, please, let me have a look at him. Perhaps I can help." Cyclops said and Goku obeyed. After trying CPR Cyclops gave up, he put a hand on Goku who was shaking and sobbing. He looked at Steve.

"What happened?" He asked Steve. Steve looked at Piccolo for a second, who had only just gotten up and was panting. Steve walked over to the two and told them about what happened. As he pointed to the rice cooker Goku's eyes got bigger and looked at Cyclops.

"He tried the Mafuba." Cyclops acknowledged. He looked at Steve and explained what it was.

"So it's fatal? Always?" Steve asked. They both nodded. Cyclops picked Master Roshi up and carried him away. Steve looked at Piccolo again who was now simply watching them his panting was nearly over. A smirk appeared on his face as Cyclops carried the body away. Goku looked furious.

"You, you killed the old man. That's unforgivable. You are the one who send those other guys after us? Yes, I killed one of your sons I believe." He said, cockier than Steve remembered. He hadn't grown a lot, but Steve could see Goku had definitely matured, he movements Steve noticed were more attuned, more conscious.

"Ah, so you are the one who killed Tambourine. That's no small feat, to kill a Mazoku. Still, it was only one and had only a fraction of my power. What a nice necklace you have there. Can I take a closer look?" Piccolo asked casually. Steve looked at Goku's necklace, a small orange ball hanging from it. Why was he talking about that? Goku grabbed the ball for a moment and let it go again, looking pissed off.

"I'll kill you!" He shouted and charged Piccolo head on. Steve screamed at him not to do it but it was too late. A split second later they clashed. Cyclops came rushing back after laying Roshi's body behind a hill.

"He can't take him alone." Steve said. Cyclops agreed as he ran towards the fight, Steve followed. As they got closer they noticed Piccolo was talking the whole time they fought.

"And now, with him gone nobody is alive that knows the Mafuba and I can rule the world! Haha." He said then looked at Cyclops and Steve briefly as they approached, adjusting his moves to include their attacks.

Now it was 3 against 1, but Piccolo didn't seem all that worried. In fact he seemed to be able to handle all 3 a lot better than just Goku. Steve quickly learned why. Goku had to slow down to allow Cyclops and Steve to attack, they both had slowed down. They were in the way. Before Steve could tell Cyclops that they should disengage Piccolo got the drop on Cyclops, going for his weakness, the visor, and scratched his face, tearing the visor apart and off his face. A giant beam of powerful, hot, red lights escaped his eyes, hitting Steve straight on his shield, bounced off and fully hit Goku who screamed in agony. Cyclops quickly closed his eyes and turned away, useless now. Next Piccolo targeted Steve and clawed at him, but the shield protected him, he could hear one of Piccolo's fingers break on the vibranium-iron alloy. Again they went hand-to-hand and Steve noticed Piccolo was going full power on him. He had to duck away but was caught by a stray punch in his ribs that smashed him away and onto the ground several feet away. He heard 2 ribs crack, it hurt like hell. Goku was still in agony from the blast as Piccolo kicked him in the face hard, sending him flying and on his back on the ground.

"I'll take that necklace now." He said and ripped it off Goku's neck. Goku responded though, punching him in the face and trying to grab the necklace back but Piccolo was too quick. Steve got his act together as well and threw his shield. Piccolo this time grabbed it straight out of the air. Steve realized he had made a mistake, he threw his shield with his left arm, on the side where 2 ribs were broken, he couldn't have put any power behind it. Piccolo held the shield in his arm, admiring it for a moment.

"Ah what luck, vibranium yes? Marvelous." He said, then proceeded to smash Goku with it. Goku was now outclassed, try as he might to block and evade the ruthless bashes. Again and again Goku was hit with the shield, each seemed harder. He tried with all his might to block, dodge, counter. Nothing worked, the vibranium shield was relentless.

"Out of my way." They heard as something fast blasted past Steve and Cyclops as they stood by helplessly as Goku was being beaten to a bloody pulp. With a loud crunch Piccolo was knocked off his feet, the shield flew through the air and stuck itself into the sand. As the figure came down Steve saw it was Tony Stark. He fired up a blast from his chest.

"Stand back, this is going to be all the juice I have left." He said, then fired. Piccolo was already standing when the beam came at him. He blocked it with one hand, a moment of grunting and the blast seemed to disappear inside his hand. He smirked.

"Guess it wasn't as much as I had calculated." Tony said. "Come on, get the kid outta here!" He managed to say before Piccolo swung his arm and threw a blade of energy at Iron Man who was hit full in the chest, the armor shredding over his entire torso. Steve was already ahead of him and had grabbed Goku and out of the way, Cyclops too. Tony tried to escape as well but another blast of energy took out the last juice of his armor and blasted his boots and leg armor off, he came crashing down and was out for the count. Now it was Steve alone against Piccolo again. Or so he thought, Piccolo was looking above Steve. Steve turned around and saw a flying figure who seemed to be in flames. Sunfire.

Sunfire landed next to Steve.

"Sorry it took me so long. I was ashamed, back in Tibet me and the X-men were confronted by one of his children and I fled, the realization of the existence of the Daimao and Mazoku was just too much. But I am here to redeem myself. For my father's honor." He said. Steve didn't really know what he was talking about or what happened in Tibet but he was glad he got some backup, Sunfire was a powerful mutant.

"Are you good without your shield?" Sunfire asked. Steve nodded.

"I'm gonna get it, with it we can surely beat him. If not, I'll call the helicarrier to put some heavy fire on him. Alright, let's do this." Steve said and they attacked the menace from hell. Sunfire started off with some plasma blasts that Piccolo easily blocked. Steve got close, steered himself so he could take a distance and get his shield again at the same time. It worked as Piccolo seemed more focussed on Sunfire.

"So many pests around, so many to stop me. It is pointless, I will not be stopped. I have waited too long, waited for what feels like an eternity. No, this planet is mine!" He shouted as Steve got his shield. When he looked back at Piccolo a wave of destructive energy rushed towards him, forcing him to block it with the shield. As always it worked like a charm though the force of the blast was powerful enough to knock Steve of his feet and blast a crater in the ground. With a somersault backward he landed on his feet though, he then looked up as he saw Sunfire charge Piccolo from the air. Piccolo responded by jumping up towards him, the tall figure showing great stamina and ability despite his age.  
With a quick knee to his sternum Sunfire got the air sucked out of his lungs and he vomited as Piccolo's knee pushed deeper into his chest. Then Piccolo slammed him with both hands against the back of his neck and Sunfire came crashing down, his flames around him disappearing. As Piccolo came back down as well he aimed his foot at the unconscious Sunfire. Steve threw his shield, to hit Piccolo right before he landed. But Piccolo threw a blast of energy at it and the shield deflected, and Piccolo's foot landed on Sunfire's neck. He was dead. The panting Piccolo charged straight at Steve after murdering the Japanese mutant, fury in his eyes. They parried and Steve noticed Piccolo was slowing down, losing power. He was tired. Killing Sunfire took a lot of his powers away it appeared.

"Are you upset that I killed your friend? The mutant? Yes, I know about his kind. I know something about you as well, Captain America. Your body is unusual, better than an ordinary human. Yet, not a martial artist like the ones who imprisoned me. Curious, perhaps I'll keep you as a pet. You can watch me kill your other friends, the other mutants. Once I am young again, nobody can stop me!" They kept on parrying but Piccolo still got the upper hand. Then Steve noticed a distraction yet again. From the distance 2 figures approached, one was calling Cyclops who was at a distance now, trying not to be in the way. Steve recognized the voice, Jean Grey. As they got closer Piccolo stopped right as he had pinned down Steve and went for the killing blow. Steve looked at Jean going towards Cyclops, she had a new visor in her hands. The other person was Wolverine. He hadn't seen them in years.

"More of you? I see, a Psychic. And another with enhanced reflexes. Dammit, you ants are starting to irritate me. But mark my words, I'll be young again very soon, yes very soon indeed. Enjoy your little victory for now. You have not seen the last of the Mazoku!" He said, then fled to the ship as he knocked Steve away with a massive swing with his arm. The ship tried to close up but the back was too damaged and it went into the air with it back open. Looking at the scenery around him again Steve noticed the bodies of the assassins were gone, only the 2 empty mechs were still there and the operators handcuffed under Hawkeye's feet.

"Steve! Are you alright?" Cyclops came running towards him, kneeling beside him. Steve put his arm back in his shoulder and wiped the blood from his mouth.

"I just got my ass kicked." Steve said. "I've felt better."

"We have to hurry, Goku isn't doing well, he is dying." Jean said, hunched over Goku. Wolverine picked him up.

"Tough kid, but only human. If we don't get him to a hospital quickly he'll die." Wolverine said. Steve nodded, got helped up by Cyclops and tried to walk off the pain.

"Sunfire... He, he is gone." Steve said, the others held their heads down. Jean told him what happened in Tibet as Steve called in the helicarrier.

"What was Piccolo talking about, getting young again?" Steve wondered out loud. Everyone shrugged. It seemed impossible to them.

As the helicarrier came down a small ship from the capsule corporation came ahead of it, landing near them. Out of it jumped Bulma, who ran up to them straight towards Goku.

"Goku! Oh my god, is he alive?" She asked. Wolverine nodded.

"Just barely. We need to get him on the helicarrier where they can help him." He said. Bulma went into her purse right away and brought out a small bag. Out of it she took a small bean.

"I came to the helicarrier as soon as I heard there was fighting going on down here. They practically turned me into a prisoner though, wouldn't allow me anywhere near their toy. It doesn't matter, I won't let them near mine either. Let me give this to him, quickly." She said.

"Bulma, please. He needs to see a doctor quickly, there is no time." But before Steve could finish his sentence she had stuffed the thing down Goku's throat.

"Chew Goku, it's a senzu bean." She said. Slowly Steve saw Goku's jaw move. He swallowed, and a second later he opened his eyes with a surprised look on his face. To Steve's amazement he scrambled out of Wolverine's arms and stood on both feet on the ground looking at his hands. He was fine. Bulma was smiling and took another bean out of the bag.

"Anyone else needs one of these?" She asked, looking at Steve. He waved his hands.

"No thanks, my wounds heal quickly. But that was amazing, senzu beans they are called? Amazing!" Steve said, checking Goku out who was making a backflip, clearly feeling very well.

"Tony might need one." Hawkeye said. "I'm not all that badly hurt, but Tony is still unconscious." Bulma ran over to were Tony lay immediately.

"Gonna be a problem with that helmet on." Said Black Widow but Bulma waved that away.

"No problem, I'll just override the helmet." She said and took a small tool out of her purse, kneeled besides the unconscious Tony and started working on it. In a few seconds the helmet hissed open, showing the bruised and battered face of Tony Stark, covered in green impact jello. Bulma put a bean in his mouth and slapped him in the face.

"Wake up Iron Man. Swallow." She said. It took a moment but eventually Tony swallowed the bean and he opened his eyes.

"Oooh.? What is going on? Where am I?" He asked.

"How do you feel?" Bulma asked.

"I feel fine, but my suit is out of juice... Who are you exactly?" He asked. Bulma smiled.

"I'm Bulma, I might have some alternate power supply for you. Hang on a second." She said, going through her purse. She pulled out a capsule, clicked on the top and threw it on the ground. With a blop and a bit of smoke a generator appeared with all sorts of wiring.

"What do you use? 240, 360? I bet I can zap some juice directly onto the arc reactor, won't be uncomfortable as you have double plating and an isolation unit. How did you manage to attach the tuning memristors onto the fluxuation body? Oh, I see here the rotation pumps, triple action. Very nice. Oh here is..." She continued, having opened Tony's chest armor and looking straight into the arc reactor device without Tony being able to do anything. Tony was very nervous.

"Okay, okay. Hehehe, no poking. Watch out, that's very delicate material, before you. no, no, no. You can't.." Tony kept rambling on but Bulma ignored him as she took a wire and plugged it into his chest piece. Suddenly the lights went on and the reactor powered up. Tony could move his arms and legs. The surprise on his face was priceless.

"Ah, there you go. It would have gone quicker if you had told me the triple rotations worked on separate couplings. Couldn't find the connectors. But it should be working now again, already recharging to full power. You're welcome." She said and stood up. Tony stood up as well.

"What was your name again? Bulma. Bulma Briefs I expect. Hm, we should share some notes." Tony said, shaking Bulma's hand.

"My dragonball! Now I remember. He took my grandfather's dragonball!" Goku suddenly screamed. They all looked at him.

"That Piccolo guy did? Why would he do that?" Bulma asked.

"What is so special about that ball? He kept it near him with quite the effort." Hawkeye mentioned. Bulma and Goku looked at each other, Goku nodded his head. Then Bulma explained to them about the dragonballs. Hawkeye and Tony Stark didn't believe it, but Black Widow and Steve did, they knew some things the others didn't know.

"So that's what Fury was hiding on the helicarrier." Steve said, Black Widow nodded.

"What?" Bulma asked.

"SHIELD is in possession of another one of those dragonballs, they had it for months. I saw some very strange energy readings on that thing when I peeked in, by accident of course." Black Widow said.

"When were you planning on telling us?" Hawkeye asked, Black Widow shrugged.

"I didn't know what it was, what it was for." She said.

"Excuse me, a little help over here." They suddenly heard from the ocean. They saw a hand raised. Tony took off with his suit and picked up the straggler, Bruce Banner had transformed back. Half naked, Tony put him down.

"So what happened? Did we win?" Bruce asked, they all hesitated to answer but explained everything.

"So wait a minute now, these balls, 7 of them, you put them together, say a password? And then it grants a wish? Any wish?" Bruce asked, Bulma and Goku just nodded.

"Sound like something Hand would be after. Imagine what they can wish for. Piccolo must have known about them and told Hand." Wolverine said. They all nodded.

"What about the other dragonballs? Where are they? How many does Hand already have?" Cyclops asked.

"I have invented a radar that can track them. Hold on, we actually haven't been looking for the others since we were preparing for the tournament, not for a year. If we had known others were looking... Anyway, let me check." She said as she took a large radar out of her purse. She pushed on it a few times.

"Curious, it doesn't see 2 of them anywhere on the world. I can see Piccolo has 5 of them already, closeby. The one on the helicarrier is shielded from the radar then. Same must be going on for the 7th, there aren't many things that can block my radar though." She said.

"The helicarrier has all sorts of radar jamming on it, some based on vibranium. That's why you can't find it with that, wherever the 7th is, it might be shielded in the same way. Good thing Piccolo hasn't shielded his from your radar. Now we know where he is. Pretty sure Hand is there as well." Black Widow said.

"That's possible, but I would like to go back to the Stark tower and find some way to amplify the signal, see if i can find some way around the jamming. If SHIELD would be so kind as to tell what kind of jamming equipment they have i might be able to see the 7th as well. That way, we can tell where that one is. How does that sound?" Bulma said.

"Well you can try but even if it helps SHIELD, and with SHIELD i mean Fury, they aren't very keen on handing over the blueprints of their top secret technologies." Tony said. "I however, am very open to sharing technology, even with the capsule corporation. I will help you decipher the jamming signal. You will have full access to my workshop on the Helicarrier. SHIELD doesn't have any secrets for me anyway." He said, smiling.

"Okay, I'm going to pretend i didn't hear that. But thats an excellent idea to find the last ball like that, that way we can get it before Piccolo does. We can go wherever in the world quickly with the helicarrier and get it." Steve said. he started pacing, the pressure was off now that they had a window of opportunity. If they played this cleverly they can beat Piccolo, using these balls he wants so badly against him.

"So, we now know the game. Hand is trying to find these Dragonballs for Piccolo, from what you told me about him he is going to wish for youth himself, leaving Hand empty-handed. Once young again, he'll start taking over the world. So here is the plan. Once we know where the 7th ball is we lay a trap for him." Steve said. "The helicarrier is well defended, we can beat him there, I know it. If we can lure Piccolo and Hand there we defeat them and take them in. In the meantime we have the opportunity to find the 7th and secure it as well before Hand does."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Wolverine said.

"Actually we still have to pick up 1 more martial artists Hand is hunting, we don't know where Psylocke or Elektra are either. We have to regroup at Stark Tower, protect the martial artists." Cyclops said. Steve thought on that for a moment.

"Alright, not much difference. Nightcrawler, Yamcha and Krillin are still at Stark Tower with Nam. I don't think they are in immediate danger. Goku and us go on the helicarrier to help find the dragonball and prepare the Helicarrier for the trap, The X-men go find that martial artist and rendezvous back at Stark Tower and pick up Nightcrawler, Yamcha and Krillin and then head for the helicarrier. Once the 7th ball is located, the Avengers will go find it whilst Goku stays to spring the trap for Hand so they will come to the helicarrier and hopefully steer them away from the 7th ball. The X-men, after they drop off Yamcha and Krillin, will try to find Elektra and Psylocke. How is that?" Steve said. Cyclops and Jean looked at each other, both shrugged.

"I'll call my people in Osaka, let them prepare the defenses there, Nightcrawler and the others are gonna need some backup." Tony said.

"All sounds good to us." Cyclops said.

"Fine, I'll be going wherever Piccolo pops up though, I need my dragonball back." Goku said as he smiled.

"Also," Goku continued. "I'd recommend bringing the bodies of Sunfire and Roshi to a safe place, somewhere closeby." He said. The others look puzzled.

"Why?" Cyclops asked.

"You'll never know what might happen. We might win." Goku said. They all looked strangely at him but agreed nonetheless and send the bodies to the Stark tower.


	7. Chapter 7

Tien was standing in the biggest cave he had ever seen. There were artificial lights everywhere, monorails going through it with big containers attached to them, transporting some kind of metal around.

"All this, nobody knew. This is amazing." He said to himself, he was totally alone in this location, deep in the mountain of this hidden country. He looked next to his feet, a small rock lay there. He picked it up and studied it. He then looked at all the walls, it all looked the same. Ore, everywhere there was ore. Vibranium, an entire mountain of it. Now he knew why their radar stopped working, it was clear the dragonball was somewhere inside the mountain, but it couldn't pinpoint it because of all this magnetic interference. He dropped the rock, it had been so difficult to get into this place, they couldn't fail now. Master Shen and Piccolo will be pleased when they find it.

"Tien, Tien." He suddenly heard in his head.

"Chiaotzu! Where are you at?" He asked his best friend who was a mutant telepath and a great martial artist in the crane school like himself.

"I found it! I found the dragonball but I can't get it without being seen. My telekinesis doesn't work on it for some reason." He heard Chiaotzu saying.

"Alright, guide me to it, I'll get it." He said and started walking. He was disguised as one of the residents of this strange country, this hidden world. He was a shapeshifter or body-morph so he had no trouble turning into anything human, even a metahuman. Telepathically Chiaotzu guided him up deeper and higher into the mountain until he got to an area where the walls of the cave had been replaced by steel walls, an entire building complex was situated here. There was higher security here than anywhere in or outside the cave.  
But Chiaotzu was able to open a route inside with his ability. He saw Chiaotzu was hidden, like a ghost, upon the ceiling as Tien casually walked in pretending to be a guard with high-security access. He noticed a woman walking around he thought he recognized from a poster he saw outside, in the village. She was a member of the royal family. Then he spotted it, it was laying on a table near a window. As he was approaching he finally noticed the things around him. In cabinets were weapons of all kinds against the wall, rifles, pistols, crossbows, strangely a simple brown stick amongst them in an extra case as if it was dangerous. On tables he saw advanced technology, weapons, gadgets, camouflage clothes. In the far back against a wall he saw something that made him stop. Suits, black suits with clawed gloves and panther-shaped cowls. The Black Panther. Tien had heard stories about it, but thought it was just a myth. Turns out the Black Panther is real, and a metahuman probably. So many secrets in this place that need answering, but the dragonball came first.

His master Chen had gotten the order directly from Piccolo himself, the leader of Hand. They had been part of Hand for over a year now and even though all 3 of them didn't really follow their religion, Master Chen had told them this organization was the best kind to be a part of as it will exist forever and will always have resources available for them to exploit.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Somebody asked behind him. Tien turned around, it was the royal girl.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm kinda new here. Just doing a routine check." Tien said in perfect Wakandan.

"Nobody does routine checks here pal." The girl said, she reached for something in her pocket. A split second Tien thought about attacking her, but she took out a gummy bear and put it in her mouth. Then she touched her beaded bracelet and held it to her mouth.

"Yes, do you guys have a new guy running around here?" She asked through the bracelet. Did she just contact someone with that thing? He now noticed one of the beads was pulsing light. Tien slid slowly closer to the table with the dragonball and checked it out, checked his escape routes as well.

"Tien, your cover is blown. I'll distract them, when I say so move to grab the ball." Chiaotzu said in his head. The plan was for Chiaotzu to get into the head of everyone in the room, he could only hold on for a few moments. But that was enough for Tien to grab the ball and quickly walk towards the exit. Chiaotzu followed him, walking beside him as he had to concentrate keeping around 15 minds in check. As they got to the door Chiaotzu's concentration had been stretched enough, Tien recalled this had to be the most minds he ever controlled at once than ever before. When they all snapped out of it Chiaotzu was able to hide in the much darker corridor, they were headed back into the cave again towards the exit when all of the sudden alarms started blazing everywhere. They started to run, Chiaotzu using his gliding ability to move silently. They were both top class assassins and were able to avoid detection all the way to the exit of the cave, then they headed into the jungle to avoid being spotted.

Now, sitting in this damned jungle, chased by hunters with advanced technology he couldn't even begin to phantom, Tien started to doubt his master's instincts. Hand was dangerous and reckless, Tien didn't feel it was worth it all.

Wakanda was said to be a third world country, poor, hungry and dry. But Tien and Chiaotzu soon found out the truth when they were sent here. "The dragonball is there. Never question me, find it." Shen had said, his master furious as always as they asked rational questions. Well, he was right, but what Tien and Chiaotzu had to do to get here, to enter this place, he could never tell anyone, he just wanted to forget it.

"They are nearly on top of us Tien. What do we do?" He asked.

"We do what we always do Chiaotzu, we survive." Tien replied. "Do you know how many there are?" He asked.

"I don't know, maybe 12 of the guards and another, one a lot faster and stealthy. I can mislead the guards but the other one, I don't know." Chiaotzu replied.

"Okay, go to the edge, to the shield. I'll take another route to put them off our track, we'll meet back at the barrier itself. Let's hope that device works a second time." Tien said and started to move, crawling through the mud and rotting leaves.

Getting to a more open spot Tien saw in the distance the barrier, it had changed from this side, like it was denser than before. On the other side it was impossible to detect, they only knew it was there. It probably worked on vibranium power Tien realized, they could control its strength and when the alarms went off, they made sure it was at maximum power. They could be in trouble.

"What's going on?" Tien asked as he felt Chiaotzu was in distress.

"I lost the guards but that other one, the fast one is still around. I can sense him, but just barely. Can't put a lock on him, like his body and mind are shielded somehow. Can't see him with the naked eye, no tracks, nothing. He's a metahuman for sure." Chiaotzu replied, clearly nervous from it.

"It has to be the Black Panther. Alright, stay low, we are not spotted, head for the shield, we are leaving." He said and they started moving. At the barrier they met again. The forest ended for a moment, just long grass to conceal them. Tien grabbed the device they bought in the black market of Mogadishu and activated it. Nothing happened.

"That's not going to work again, thief." They heard a male voice say behind them, they looked and man in a black suit stood there, he wore a mask of a panther as he saw inside the mountain. They stood up slowly.

"Surrender the object and I'll let you live." The Black Panther said.

"No can do I'm afraid." Tien said, holding the dragonball firm in his hand.

"Then I'll take it off your dead hands." The Black Panther said and attacked. His speed was amazing, just as his strength. It was like fighting multiple enemies at once.

"Chiaotzu I am having a lot of problems with this guy. Can you get inside his head at all?" Tien asked Chiatzu telepathically as he tried his best not to get clawed by his razor-sharp, vibranium nails. Chiaotzu, although also a martial artist trained in the crane school, wasn't half as good as Tien was because of the disadvantages of his mutant abilities. Chiaotzu was more comfortable using his head than his hands.

"I can't, that mask is blocking me, it's like being inside that cave. We gotta get that mask off!" He said, then he joined in physically. This helped a bit, enough that Tien got some room to go on the offense.

"Then we hit the barrier." Tien said, turning around and firing his dodonpa onto the wall which flickered in and out of sight as it hit. That was just a taste of the power of the barrier, which was quite significant.

"Chiaotzu, I'm going to need time to work up the energy to take on that barrier. You can still use your hypnotizing?" He asked.

"I can try." Chiaotzu said. Tien duplicated himself, using his transformation technique, something new he learned at the crane school recently. The duplicate was worthless, but a good distraction. Meanwhile, Chiaotzu created some visual illusions of his own. The Black Panther was confused for a moment. This gave Tien the time to concentrate and build up his biggest kikoho yet, which was quite dangerous but had to be done, to not fail their master, to not fail the demon king.

"Chiaotzu, get ready, I'm almost done." He said.

"Say the word." Chiaotzu said.

"Alright, now." Tien said. Chiaotzu took a distance from the Black Panther who engaged him, Chiaotzu was hurt, having been clawed multiple times now. Chiaotzu could fly though, giving him a good advantage(except against the barrier) as he flew up with the sun behind him.

"Solar flare!" He screamed and the world turned white. The Black Panther was blinded. Tien turned to face the barrier, brought his hands together to form a triangle with his hands.

"Kikoho!" He screamed and a large beam of energy flew at the barrier with a loud crash and a lot of electricity firing all directions. But an opening was made and they jumped straight through, it closed right behind them. They had escaped Wakanda and the Black Panther god.

"We must get back quickly, master Chen and Piccolo will be pleased." Tien said, Chiaotzu smiled back.


	8. Chapter 8

"Yamcha, how are you feeling? It is good to see you out of bed." Nam said as Yamcha came walking in.

"I'm fine, Marvel Girl really knows her stuff, using meditation to heal. Worked like a charm." He said, Nam bowed. Nightcrawler meanwhile was sitting on top of a support beam, laying some cards.

"Hé, if you need a sparring partner I'm all for it, you can use some practice again yes? Krillin too I suspect." Nam asked, Yamcha's smile got larger.

"Sure, how about you two against me?" Yamcha said. Nam laughed.

"No way, you aren't that good. I saw you fight in the last tournament, you are good but I have become much better as well since last time. Come on, take me on, lets see what you got." He said and took a fighting stance. Krillin walked over, curious to what was going on.

"Alright then." Yamcha said and also took a fighting stance, but before they could begin Nightcrawler teleported himself inbetween them, it immediately smelled of sulfur.

"Sssh, something is going on. I hear something. Listen." He said. All 3 stopped and listened.

"I don't hear anything." Nam said after a short while.

"No, no. I can hear it too." Yamcha said though, Krillin nodded.

"Yamcha, Krillin, Nam, get out of here. We are under attack." As soon as Nightcrawler had said it the room exploded and ninjas and assassins came from all windows and doors. Hand was here. Soon they spotted Spylocke amidst them as well.

"Ah, time for round 2." Yamcha said and approached her whilst knocking out Hand assassins left and right. The X-man Nightcrawler was doing well against them as well, being a very able hand-to-hand combatant and using his ability well in a fight. Yamcha noticed old school boxing techniques and some Brazilian martial arts in Nightcrawler's moves, nice. Krillin was doing even better, they couldn't get near him as he splashed KI attacks all around him, firing with accurate precision, like it was merely training for him. Yamcha clashed with the mutant assassin. He learned from his last fight, the blades were his biggest concern. But, more importantly, during his session with Marvel Girl(Yamcha had a huge crush on her, too bad she was already in a relationship) he was told some of her tricks and how to counter her best. This gave him a good advantage against her now. Still, she was quite the expert fighter.

"I see you have learned some of my weaknesses." Psylocke mentioned during fighting, each strike meant to kill, ruthless.

"But you fail to realise one thing. I know some of your tricks as well." She said, then pushed with her fist at him, his own signature move, the wolf fang fist. It startled him at first, then he got a grip, smiled and replied.

"Attack me with my own move? Big mistake." He said, then countered her attack easily, knowing every step of the attack with his eyes closed. He caught her in her ribs and quickly followed on the back of her head, hard and without hesitation. Her psi-blades disappeared as she fell down face first, she was out cold. Seeing Psylocke go down the remaining Hand assassins made a run for it. They had been fighting for only a couple of minutes, a dozen Hand assassins lay on the floor. Nightcrawler came over and tied Psylocke's hands up.

"Wunderbar, you ever consider joining the X-men?" Nightcrawler asked.

"Aren't you all supposed to be mutants?" Yamcha asked. Nightcrawler shrugged.

"I don't have a problem with non-mutant joining us, if they fight like that." He said, they laughed.

"So, we have defeated the attack on Stark Tower, without any help from the man himself I might add, plus we have apprehended one of Hand's main assassins. What shall we do from here?" Yamcha asked. Nightcrawler though for a moment.

"I think it's time we help the others with the rest of the plan, I think it is better we head for the helicarrier. Come on grab onto me you 3." He said, they did and poof they were gone.

* * *

Goku didn't have enough eyes to see everything. This helicarrier was amazing. On every corner there was a new surprise. Especially the location where they kept the dragonball, which they called a chinese dragon egg. It was the 1 star dragonball. It was protected by a forcefield, lasers, automated guns, the works. The ship, plane, whatever it was, was fully prepared for the trap, they will be ready for them. Now it was a matter of decrypting the radar. Bulma and Tony said they didn't need all that much time, and they were right. Goku was asked to come to the bridge and there were all the Avengers, the mutants Cyclops and Jean Grey and also Yamcha and Krillin gathered to his surprise. He ran up to them.

"Hé guys, how do you get here so quick?" He asked, they explained what happened at the Stark Tower. It felt good to see they were safe, plus they arrested one of the top assassins of Hand.

"Nightcrawler is currently taking Bulma home, it is too dangerous for her and her work here is finished." Yamcha said. Goku looked around the bridge and he saw SHIELD director Fury. He hadn't met him yet, very elusive figure, lot of history in his eye.

"Mr. Goku. It's a pleasure. I saw the way you took care of that demon spawn, very impressive." Fury said as they shook hands.

"You saw that?" Goku asked. "How?" Fury laughed at that.

"My eyes are everywhere youngster. Even though I only have 1. You'd be surprised at how much we see and know. How do you think we have a dragonball? You know they were last seen together in 1971? Yeah, there was a strange ecliptic event that year, the way you say they work must mean they were actually used to grant a wish back then. Interesting isn't it?" He said, Goku was shocked to hear he knew so much.

"Anyway the jamming has been cleared for the radar, however, the last remaining dragonball didn't show up untill 3 hours after we had fixed the jamming. Seems someone put it into our detection themselves. It seems its heading straight for the ones piccolo has, so it appears Hand has found it first. See? Right there on the big screen." Goku looked and saw the map of Japan. From the south-west a ball was over the Indian ocean moving towards Japan at great speed. The 5 balls were all together near the island Shikoku. As they zoomed in Goku saw it wasn't on the main island but a much smaller one next to it. "The other 5 balls moved over to that island over there, probably the location where Picclo is going to have his wish granted. We assume that Piccolo must be there as well." Fury said. Goku looked at the screen, it didn't seem that far away. He got excited.

"Great! I am on my way now." He said an ran towards the back. But Fury interrupted.

"Now, now Goku. We don't want you to do anything rash. You might have been strong enough to defeat its spawn, but the demon king is not so easy to beat. Last time, he nearly killed you remember?" He said.

"That won't happen twice." Goku said. Fury smiled.

"We are still laying the trap, nothing has changed regarding that. Hand still needs the 7th ball and we have let them know we have it. The X-men have located the last martial artist, they are on their way back. The Avengers found Elektra is on the island as well, she has probably already told Piccolo that we have the 7th ball. So far everything is going according to plan. Now, we can't have you endanger that plan. We need you here, when the enemy is coming to attack we can use all the hands we can get. It is going to be dangerous, we actually do have the dragonball here. You don't want them to steal it do you? Like they stole yours?" Fury said the last thing like that was the thing that was going to make him oblige.

"My dragonball is the whole reason I am going, I'm going to get it back. See, it is my grandfather's." He said.

"We know, but after the fight here is won, we can collect the others. We can see them at all times, no way they can hide them, not now. You will have it back as soon as we defeat Piccolo Daimao, right here." Fury said. Goku looked confused.

"Why do you think Piccolo is coming here himself?" He asked. Now Captain America answered.

"We think he will send one of his children of course, but if we win here he will be alone. Like with all dictators, cult leaders, his strength lies in his allies." Captain American talked very seriously, like a soldier.

"Well, this one has got plenty of power by himself." Goku said.

"Well this is out experience with dictators, and i have a lot of experience i might add." Captain America said.

"I don't like it, we just wait for him to make a move whilst we should be the one doing the moving. He might bury the dragonballs, or find some other way to jam the signal, like take them to where the 6th ball came from. I can't wait and wonder if i'm going to get my grandfather's dragonball back, i have to find it and retrieve it myself. I'm sorry, can i leave?" Goku asked.

"You are not our prisoner, if you have to go, you can. But please we wise about this, don't attack them on your own. Wait till the trap is sprung." Fury said. Cyclops then stepped forward.

"He won't be alone, I'll keep him safe. What do you say Goku?" He asked, Goku nodded in approval.

"Fine then, try and stop him from doing anything stupid. I'm done trying." Fury said. Then Goku and Cyclops left. Jean Grey stayed and help defend the helicarrier.

"So, where are we going?" Cyclops asked from the X-Jet trying to keep up with Nimbus cloud.

"We'll wait, till Piccolo is alone with the dragonballs. Then I'll get my dragonball back." Goku said, reluctantly. Cyclops laughed.

"I have to tell Fury that, he told me you were one of the most stubborn people he ever met. But you got guts Goku, I like that. You gotta remember you are still a kid though, you can't take the world problems all on your own shoulders." Cyclops said. Goku nodded.

"Alright what does the X-Jet say about the dragonballs? Are they on the move?" Goku asked. Cyclops checked.

"Nope, still at the same spot, you want to try and get a visual?" Cyclops asked. Goku thought about that for a moment.

"Isn't your Blackbird equipped with stealth? Nimbus is not so good at going undetected. Can't we use the X-jet to get close and see whats going on?" He asked. Cyclops slapped on his forehead.

"Of course, we'll go take a look, climb aboard." He said, Goku jumped off Nimbus and onto the jet in mid-flight. Inside he strapped himself in though, might be making some quick movements.

"Alright, lets go." Cyclops said. Once there, they scanned the area from a distance first, the balls were on an island but they couldn't get a visual so they were buried like Goku said. There were henchmen around but not a lot. They didn't see Piccolo or Elektra.


	9. Chapter 9

"It is looking good." Goku said.

"Yes, too good. Its probably a trap. Why are there so few of them? Where is Piccolo?" Cyclops asked more himself than Goku, nonetheless Goku answered.

"They are probably attacking the helicarrier right now. Piccolo must have come with them and Elektra is probably either finding the last dragonball or attacking Stark Tower." He said. Cyclops shook his head. This showed that Goku was still just a kid, he kept forgetting for some reason. Though Cyclops didn't care much for Fury's orders, he didn't want to endanger Goku under his supervision. Then again, Goku looked younger but was already 15. In some cultures old enough to make his own decisions.

"No Goku, they didn't. They are waiting, observing. Piccolo is close, he has to be." Cyclops said. Goku scoffed.

"All the better, I want to fight him again, I can win this time. I'm stronger now you know. It is strange, always happens to me." He said. Cyclops sighed. He knew, They had a short conversation about it at the mansion when they last teamed up. Professor X couldn't explain it, something was off about Goku but he couldn't find out what. He said its was similar to how he felt about Jean sometimes. Something, hidden inside.

"Goku, I must warn you. Its a trap. There is no way I'm letting you out of this ship." He said. As he turned around Goku was already at the hatch, pushed the button and it opened like no problem. He looked and smiled at Cyclops.

"Bulma helped me to override it. You stay hidden untill I'm back with the dragonballs." He said and jumped out.

"Goku stop!" Cyclops said a ran after him, too late to stop him jump into the water. He watched him swim to the island undetected. Stupid, headstrong boy. Goku sneaked onto shore, dodging the Hand guards cleverly, getting closer to the open area. Cyclops saw him took out the handheld dragon radar. Then he walked towards the open spot, there he kneeled and tapped on the soft soil. Suddenly he was surrounded by netting and was trapped as it swung upwards from cables suspended around the open area. Cyclops sighed, and jumped into the water. Ashore and getting closer to the open area himself he heard Piccolo's voice.

"Vibranium netting, a little gift from Hand's true leader, Gorgon. Nice isn't it? My powers are weakened little boy, I can't take care of everything myself. Good thing I made this pact hundreds of years ago with these maniacs. They got resources I couldn't even understand you see. Now, since you are captured you might as well witness what I am going to do with you SHIELD friends that have one of my dragonballs. Then, I'll kill you." He said. Cyclops crawled closer so he could see Piccolo and Goku. Goku was hanging upside down, the netting gripped him tight. Piccolo wasn't wearing his usual cloak and hat, he was sitting down on a white throne. Next to him stood Elektra.

"I think 3 will be enough don't you agree, Miss Natchios?" He asked. Elektra didn't respond at first but eventually answered.

"Yes, my lord. 3 should be plenty." She said. Piccolo gave a little smile then turned a more serious face. Suddenly his eyes went wide and he started to gurgle. Then his throat began to swell and to Cyclops's great horror a light green, slimy blob came out through his mouth. An egg fell on the floor, followed by 2 more. They throbbed and glowed untill they burst open. 3 horrid figures crawled out, one uglier than the other. They all resembled Piccolo one way or another, but had unique features as well. They were Mazoku, Piccolo's army, the same that caused havoc more than a hundred years ago.

"Cymbal, Drum, Bongo, my children. I have a job for you, follow Elektra and attack the helicarrier owned by SHIELD. Some of Hand's assassins are already in place there. Get me the dragonball, kill all of them and return back to me. Now." Piccolo said. The 3 figures laughed and grunted as they did what they were told. Elektra and the 3 left, along with some of the Hand henchmen. Cyclops had to act now. Piccolo was alone with Goku, panting heavily.

"The capture of one of my best agents was, unfortunate. The mutant was very skilled, I could have trained her to become even better. But it appears she wasn't all that I had hoped. Same goes for Miss Natchios of course, some interesting history, but not a true ruthless monster, like me. HAHAHA." He said as he had his breath back. He stood up. Cyclops sneaked over closer to the cables that held Goku's net up. The cables were of vibranium too, but not the post that held them. If he could get close enough he could... He felt a breath in his neck, then something hard pressed against his back.

"Hold it right there mutant scum." Said the Hand ninja. Cyclops raised his hands slowely.

"You thought you could sneak through our base? You must be stupid. Where did you..." The ninja was talking really loud so he certainly had alerted others. But no time to worry anymore, Cyclops had to act fast. He quickly turned around and blasted his eye laser on the maniac, blasting him away against a wall. He knew his mutant powers were the only thing that could stand against the amount of ninjas he was going to face. They came running from all sides, a few came around a corner in a row and Cyclops mowed them down in one blast. He ran towards the opening where Goku was at, best to get a clear shot on the post. As he got his eyes on it he heard Goku react.

"Cyclops! Get out of here, Piccolo is still too strong for you!" He screamed. Cyclops saw the post and readied to fire but Piccolo jumped in front of him and placed his hand on his visor just as he blasted it. The heat was intense, just as the pain. Though he and the ruby quartz of the visor are protected from his own mutant power, the visor itself is not and it heated up tremendously, higher and higher and Cyclops felt the metal and plastic burn on his face. His visor melted off, but bits of it still stuck to his face, it burned him to the bone. Then Piccolo tore what was left of the visor off his face, taking some flesh with it.  
Cyclops couldn't think straight, he had done so much training to keep his eyes from opening without visor, even when in intense pain. But this pain, it was going to knock him out, it might even kill him. In a short moment of clarity he heard Piccolo grunting. Its possible he got hurt from the blast as well, his hand must be gone or at least severely damaged. Cyclops took one shot before the pain knocked him out. He focussed on the sound and opened his eyes. Cyclops can actually see through the beam of light and he saw he actually hit Piccolo, straight in the chest. Then everything went black.


	10. Chapter 10

Jean came walking out of the medical center of the Helicarrier. Just an hour ago she had a terrible psionic outburst that blacked out a small part of the ship as she screamed and fell helplessly to the floor, or so she was told. She had no recollection of the event but since then felt a terrible weight on her shoulder, like a great loss. She had contacted the stark tower but Bulma and Nightcrawler had no news from Cyclops or Goku, but she felt there was something terribly wrong. As she headed for the bridge she heard the sirens of the helicarrier go off, the attack had begun. Through the comms she heard Fury's voice.

"Hand has infiltrated the helicarrier, they are impersonating SHIELD agents. They are taking control of key parts of the ship, they took out the outside sensors but before they could we saw a group approaching the helicarrier. I request every available man and woman to secure the outer perimeter of the ship, man the guns. Avengers, Assemble! Protect the ball. We are..." Then it went static, Hand must have shut it down. Jean ran for the outer parts of the ship. Suddenly she was thrown to the side by a big hit. She managed to stay clear of the walls with her powers, she was still unstable. Recovering she ran again, bumping into SHIELD agents all over the place. Going around a corner she saw a couple of SHIELD agents standing still, facing her. They were holding weapons.  
As they saw her they raised them, Hand infiltrators. She didn't hesitate, broke the guns and threw the murderers against the wall. They were blocking her way to the number 2 hangar, she entered cautiously. She sensed more Hand assassins and 3 of Piccolo's children, their brain activity indistinquishable. They had come in, despite the defenses of the helicarrier. She couldn't take them on her own. She had to find the Avengers or Yamcha and Krillin. She knew where the 2 youngsters were, but members of the Avengers could be anywhere. They were in their element here, well except maybe the Hulk. Unfortunately Thor was still in Asgard. Iron Man had a new suit though, the others were all again restocked on arrows, bullets and Cap had his shield of course. Luckily they had given her a wrist communicator.

"This is Marvel Girl, they have entered through hangar 2. Piccolo has made 3 children, i repeat, 3 children. They will be heading for the dragonball, we have to cut them off. Meet me at junction 42." She said, dashing along the helicarrier like she had worked here for years. She was using her powers to see the layout of the ship. At the junction she designated she met up with Hawkeye and Black Widow.

"Hé, they coming from that direction?" Hawkeye asked, Jean nodded at him. He drew an arrow, Black Widow, Natasha, took out her pistols.

"Let them come." The Russian superspy said. Jean took up position besides them. Not shortly after SHIELD agents came down the corridor. These too had their weapons drawn as they got closer.

"They are Hand." She said as she scanned their minds. The moment she said it all hell broke loose. The Hand infiltrators started firing and looking for cover, Hawkeye took out 2 and Black Widow 3 before they could scramble in side passages and behind obstacles conveniently spread over all corridors(why was that always?).

"This is not all of them, just a small group. Probably a diversion." Jean said, counting only 10 in total, 6 already down. At the hangar she felt at least 30, those were not wearing SHIELD uniforms either.

"Alright, no time to waste then." Black Widow said and dashed forward, sliding across the floor in cover, taking out some objects from her utility belt and throwing them towards the remaining infiltrators. A flash and the last remaining 4 were down. She ran back and they dashed into the corridor towards the chamber holding the dragonball. Meanwhile they heard blasts and gunfire all over the place. The comms were still scrambled, the ship shuddered and the lights kept going on and off.

"I don't think they are using doors and corridors." Hawkeye said as they came to a corridor that was a total mess. Two holes in the walls showed Hawkeye was right, they were going straight through them to get to the dragonball the quickest. They followed in as fast as they could. Black Widow alerted the others.

"They are almost at the dragonball, Iron Man, Cap, Hulk, meet us there." She said. As they got to the chamber Yamcha and Krillin were fighting the 3 children of Piccolo whilst about 20 bodies lay about the place. The chamber was very damaged from energy blasts and punches harder than Cap could punch. The dragonball was untouched though, it was in the middle of the room in a vibranium box on a pedestal surrounded by lasers.

"We need to separate them!" Yamcha shouted as he was attacked by 2 of them at the same time. Krillin was fending of the last one and the last 2 or 3 remaining Hand assassins who were not undercover SHIELD agents. Hawkeye quickly took one of the Hand assassins out whilst Black Widow opened fire on one of the demons.

"They ain't much on their own, but their bodies are tough, we can't damage them." Krillin said, showing he was sparring with the demon but unable to get him off him. Black Widow's bullets didn't have any effect on them. At that moment the heavy hitters came in. Iron Man flew in and grabbed one of the demons and flung him through a wall. Cap threw his shield at the other and hit it in the head. Then Hulk came crashing in through the wall and headbutted the 3rd one fighting Krillin straight in the gut and through the wall, grabbing one of the Hand assassins by the head. Hulk just kept on running, going through a second wall. There weren't many walls left in the room they were standing in. The ship was being torn apart.

"Hulk is going berserk, we can't control him. He is getting stronger by the second." Cap said as he knocked out the last Hand assassin.

"Well good, isn't that what we need?" Hawkeye asked. Cap looked worried.

"We are still 10,000 feet in the air mind you. He is tearing this ship apart." He said. As he said that a huge explosion was heard and the ship shook more than it had before.

"So are these demons." Iron Man said as he was attacked by one of them coming back through the hole in the wall. The thing was wildly aggressive, not holding back, but seemed to know some moves in martial arts. Iron Man's suit wasn't quick enough for it. His repulsors also didn't do damage to its skin, nor did it seem hurt from Cap's shield. This wasn't going well. Jean tried to connect with them telepathically but no luck, something was blocking her, they had good psychic defenses. Also their brains didn't work like anything that was alive. They were explained by the 2 Martial artists about what Piccolo was and his history but Jean couldn't really understand what exactly made these things tick. Children was maybe a wrong word. They were more like vessels.

"We gotta do what Yamcha said, split them up." Jean said, she realised she just gave an order to the Avengers, with Captain America right next to her. But they did nod, at least they tought it was a good idea.

"Agreed, get them away from the dragonball as well." Cap said. Then Fury came on the intercom.

"Piccolo is incoming. I repeat, Piccolo is incoming." Then it went static again. Things were not looking well.

"I got an idea." Yamcha said. He then rushed out of the room through a hole Hulk had made, whilst another one of Piccolo's children returned into it from the hole Iron Man had made, attacking Cap straight on, Krillin jumping in to assist.

"Stand aside!" Jean said. Cap and Krillin jumped out of the way. She blasted a big Psionic blast at the thing, flinging it against the roof and then hard onto the ground, causing a tear and eventually the thing fell through.

"Awesome. You need to learn me that move." Krillin said. But the monster came crawling back up quickly, hardly harmed. Krillin kicked it in the face as it climbed up, almost making it fall back down again. But it recovered quickly, jumping on the floor again. Then the 3rd one came back, the 3 stood next to eachother, slowely closing in on the dragonball.

"Well what do we do now?" Jean asked, as Iron Man was punched so hard his chest armor broke activating his flares and filling the room with smoke. Cap threw his shield but one of the monsters caught it.

"Our father saw you throw that thing at him once too, not a good idea." One of the monster said, appearently they could speak. The thing threw the shield away, through a wall with frightening strength.

"They got us cornered Cap." Hawkeye said, out of arrows. They had the dragonball in their back, the things were advancing from 3 sides.

"Oh come on, we can't get our asses kicked again by Piccolo, thats twice in one day, i don't think i can handle that." Iron Man said.

"Don't worry, you may not have to." Yamcha then said, jumping into the room through the hole he went out from. "Run." He then said and dashed out through the other hole, bypassing the 3 monsters standing in the middle who looked at him confused.

"HULK DESTROY PUNY GREEN DEVILS!" They heard and Hulk came crashing in behind Yamcha, making the hole in the wall even bigger as he came through fist first, connecting with the 3 monsters. Jean noticed Hulk was bigger than before. Much stronger too as he grabbed one of the monsters whilst screaming in rage, grabbed its head with his other hand and pulled it off like it was a cork.

"We should listen to Yamcha, get out of here!" Krillin said and jumped outside of the room away from the dragonball. The others followed reluctantly at first. Then Hulk hit the floor with his fists and they were all flung into the air, the ship shook as bolts and welding snapped all around them. They heard the cracking and bending of metal ripple through the corridor all the way untill it was out of earshot.

"What about the dragonball?" Jean asked.

"We once found one in the heart of a volcano. Those things can take a beating, we'll find it back with the radar. Run." Krillin said.

"The ship is falling apart, I feel were are slowely going down." Yamcha said. He was right, Jean could feel it now too, the ship was going down. All around alarms started blaring to abandon ship, people went scrambling to the life pods and helicopters. They were still above water, near the coast of Shikoku.

"Piccolo is coming in, we gotta block the way." Cap said.

"Shouldn't we be going for the exit as well captain?" Hawkeye asked.

"I say we let Hulk take care of Piccolo and get out of here." Krillin said.

"Too much to risk. We gotta know where he is. Besides, what of the dragonball?" Cap said.

"We can find it again with the radar, they end up in the ocean a lot." Krillin said.

"No, Piccolo still has time to get it. If he does we will have failed and people would have died for nothing. We stay." Cap said.

"Elektra is somewhere close as well." Jean said, she had felt her closeby.

"Well she's probably running for the nearest exit like everyone is by now. Don't worry too much, lets just find Piccolo." Cap said.

"What did you do to Hulk?" Iron Man asked Yamcha who was carrying him as his suit had lost power.

"I used a technique called spirit ball to get his attention and then told him that those 3 demons were making fun of him." He said, smirking.

"Thats genius, I gotta remember that one." Iron Man said.

"I can feel Hulk's powers, it is frightening, very unstable and chaotic but powerful." Krillin said. Suddenly out of nowhere they were flanked from one of the corridors, Jean could hardly catch the movements, it was Elektra. She pushed Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Yamcha into a room and closed the door, breaking Hawkeyes bow in the process. She then proceeded to grapple Cap into a choke hold and squeezed. Jean wanted to react with a psionic blast but Krillin got ahead of her and deftly pried Cap loose from Elektra's grip. Cap was coughing and weezing as Jean helped him up.

"Get out of here, find Piccolo. I got her." Krillin said convidently. Elektra drew her blades.

"Natasha, Tony. Where are you at?" Cap asked through his earpiece. Jean heard they said they had found another way through the ship, Tony's suit was almost empty though, his GPS told them where Piccolo was and that they should head where they are headed. She looked at cap, who nodded as he clearly couldn't talk yet. She had to trust Krillin beating Elektra or she will be able to steal the dragonball.

"Remember, the ship is still going down, get outside quickly." Jean said as she and Cap went on. Krillin nodded and then attacked Elektra.

"Come on cap, we need to hurry." Jean said.


	11. Chapter 11

"You got no chance against me baby dwarf." Elektra said. Krillin ignored the comment. This was no time for immaturity, being distracted. Now was the moment that it counted. No tournament, no training, life and death. Sure Hand assassins tried to kill him, but those were pushovers. Now, he was in the big league, with the Avengers! Krillin remembered he used to dream of being part of the Avengers. Back in the 80's Hawkeye and Black Widow weren't part of them, it was just Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America(only resurrected 15 years earlier) and Thor. SHIELD hardly existed. Thor was his favorite Avenger, it was too bad he wasn't here, still in Asgard he had been told by Cap(he could call him Cap!). Maybe one day he can join them, if he was strong enough, if he had proven himself. Well, this was one of those moments to show them.

Krillin snapped into a reality as Elektra sliced his shirt, he just managed to dodge enough not to get cut. He told himself no distractions, focus.

"Are you daydreaming? Pathetic, just die already." Elektra said as she struck, jabbed and kicked. Krillin got his act together and used everything he had been training for. He realized his speed was above that of Elektra, as well as his strength. She had quicker reflexes though and knew a lot of martial arts. He knew his advantages, knew his disadvantages, Roshi trained him well. He realized only now how much further he had gotten with himself since the last tournament and against the red ribbon army. He had gotten worried when he saw how quickly Yamcha had taken out Psylocke, but now knew it was because of the same training as he had gotten.

Goku on the other hand must be miles ahead of them, having been to Korin Tower. Krillin knew that was the next thing he had to do, and more.

Elektra's sai's were her most dangerous weapons and Krillin made sure to dodge them at all times. He was on the defensive still, she was quick enough. But, she didn't have any KI abilities, her training hadn't gotten that far yet. Still, she could have won the last tournament.

He was in a hurry however, he was fighting on board a gigantic flying aircraft carrier that was going down fast. He didn't worry all that much about the Dragonball being lost, but in these short moments they could still steal it from them, even though the Hand assassins are probably all dead by now and Piccolo's children are being torn apart by Hulk. Elektra and Piccolo himself were the only one still in the way. He hadn't actually seen Piccolo yet but he was told he was huge and very adept in martial arts and KI, Krillin couldn't beat him, so the Avengers had to do it, but he could help with Elektra. As he parried with her he build up the energy in his body, concentrating it to his arms and legs. Then he unleashed. He started to overpower Elektra quickly now, it must feel like fighting multiple fighters at once for her. Confidence was the key and with it he overpowered Elektra. She deftly used her weapons, her speed, but Krillin manages to anticipate her moves, block them all and eventually managed to grapple her and throw her against a wall causing her to lose her weapons. But, she wasn't a regular martial artist, in a tournament Krillin would have won by now, but she was out for blood and a knockdown didn't count in real life. She raged and her speed increased instead of decreasing, her techniques became more solid and fluid instead of faltering.

Now Krillin understood his training, the hardships faced to getting this far. This has saved his life. With more strength and fury Krillin fought now too, a blow against her stomach definitely did some serious damage, if she wasn't as tough as she was it would have killed her. A second blow to her head was even more devastating, concussing her seriously. His last move was to grab her arm, twist it till it broke. Now, he had won.

"Give up!" Krillin shouted, knowing time was running out. He had twisted her broken arm around her back as she was on her knees.

"Never!" She answered groaning in pain. Krillin thought about what he should do.

"Alright, you are coming with me, we are getting the hell off this doomed vessel, the Avengers will then probably take you to the Raft prison." He lifted into the air and dragged Elektra with him heading towards where the others we going. He didn't have a communication device so he had to find a way outside on his own. Elektra didn't struggle with him and kept quiet, quite strange behavior even whilst she was concussed he thought. Krillin figured she must think Piccolo would rescue her when he arrived which could have already happened. He wondered what had happened to Piccolo's children. As they were moving along the corridors suddenly the ship seemed to be righting itself.

"Ah, finally we have a spot of luck." Krillin said. The intercom seemed to be working again as well and Krillin tried it.

"Jean? Uhm, I mean, Avengers come in please, this is Krillin. Anyone listening?" He said as waited a moment. He blew some air when he got an answer.

"This is Cap. Krillin? Where are you at? Give me a corridor number." He heard. Krillin gave his location and told he had arrested Elektra.

"Excellent. You are quite close to the exit just follow my instructions to get outside then you have to find a way to get to the top. Hurry up, Piccolo has already arrived. Over and out. " Cap said and it went static. Krillin rushed through and got outside quickly, he then flew up with Elektra still dragged behind him. Up top he spotted the Avengers surrounded by bodies of Hand assassins. A few feet further from them stood an enormous green figure, 7 foot tall and fury in his eyes like none Krillin had ever seen. It was a really old face, so strange and alien. This demon radiated evil and power, so much power.

"So that's Piccolo Daimao?" Krillin said as he landed behind them, dropping Elektra on the ground who laid down and moaned some more. Black Widow rushed up to help and put handcuffs on her.

"It sure is. Look we are in bad shape here, it's not wise to attack him head-on." Cap said as Krillin got next to them, he noticed Iron Man was missing.

"Fury has just only stabilized the ship, but it's not lifting well and we have to crash land eventually. Krillin and Yamcha, you are both Martial artists like this guy, got any ideas?" Cap asked. Krillin looked at Yamcha, who just shrugged.

"I guess we should let Hulk loose on him again." Krillin said, not sure what Cap thought they could tell them, this was the first time Krillin even saw him.

"We haven't fought him yet, but you guys did. I suppose he has KI attacks?" Yamcha asked.

"You mean the crazy beam of energy coming from his palms and mouth? Yes, he does, very powerful attacks." Jean answered.

"Can he fly?" Krillin asked looking at Jean who looked back and thought for a moment.

"I haven't seen him fly yet." She answered. Krillin nodded.

"Good, then that's our best advantage. Any of you can fly? I see Iron Man is missing." Yamcha said.

"Yeah he is getting his new suit, a prototype he didn't want to use yet but seems like we got no choice. Other than him nobody can fly naturally, not without technology. Thor ain't here either." Cap said. Jean frowned at that as she caught the hopeful eye of Cap, Krillin and Yamcha.

"I can fly but I have to use my powers intensively, only as a diversion. My powers can harm him though, I've noticed that before, you are going to need my powers for that. Since the others like Iceman, Angel and Nightcrawler aren't back yet I guess it's just the 2 of you." Jean revealed. Krillin sighed.

"Piccolo looks different now, less agitated. He's calm and focussed." Hawkeye mentioned, holding back with his bow and arrow knowing he can't harm the demon. Piccolo being calm was a big problem, he's more powerful than before, and he kicked the Hulk's ass then.

"Let's just occupy him first, Black Widow you get Hulk here. Let us hope Tony's suit is demon proof." Cap said. Krillin and Yamcha took to the air, Piccolo was standing calmly but alert. Elektra was put up behind a pillar and chained up to it.

All over the deck were bodies of Hand assassins and SHIELD agents, along with burning wreckage of various types of planes, some Capsule corp ships. Krillin and Yamcha took up strategic positions around Piccolo who didn't seem to notice or care. Whatever they were going to do, it had to be fast and hard. When Black Widow had disappeared down below again Yamcha looked at Krillin and nodded. Krillin nodded back and they powered up. Krillin felt the little bit of hope he had fall away as he realized how low their power was compared to what he felt radiating from Piccolo. But, maybe, just maybe they could get the edge over him.

"Now!" Yamcha yelled and they charged Piccolo head on. He moved at the last second, taking them on at the same time. Cap soon joined them and as he did Yamcha and Krillin broke off and used their levitation to stay above Piccolo and harass him as much as they could. Cap was doing great, he seemed to have unlimited stamina. Jean joined in from a distance, hurling items at Piccolo, using her psionic blasts. But, they weren't causing any damage and Piccolo seemed to be messing with them. Eventually, Piccolo managed to outmaneuver Captain America and hurled him across the deck. They needed reinforcements.

Like as if he heard them Iron Man came up through the deck, wearing his brand new armor. They stopped fighting for a moment as he entered the battle area. Piccolo's eyes went bigger for a moment and then turned angry.

"Like it? It's my new mark 9 armor. Its energy supply is enormous and unstable, that's why I hadn't used it yet. I suppose a demon is a good way of testing it." Tony Stark said using loudspeakers. Krillin had never seen anything like Iron Man's armor before, it was bulkier than the old one he wore. Still, it had the gold and red colors. It hardly made any noise Krillin noticed, just a humm from his chest power supply that was supposedly keeping him alive, or so Krillin had heard. He hoped Piccolo hadn't heard the same thing.

Iron Man started off with his repulsors at Piccolo who took real effort to block them with his hands. Krillin and Yamcha took a distance and blasted their best attacks at him from a distance, Jean joined them with her psionic attacks. Captain America had rejoined them as well. Piccolo was starting to get in trouble. They were overwhelming him, slowly but surely. If they could keep this up they can beat him, almost there. Unfortunately, Jean's psionic blasts were getting weaker and even though it didn't seem possible, Cap was little by little slowing down. This gave Piccolo the edge again, even with Krillin and Yamcha going beyond what they were capable of, all in fear of what will happen if they lost. But, Piccolo grabbed Cap by the head and threw him into Jean, then blinded Yamcha and Krillin for a moment before raising his arm and sending off the biggest KI attack Krillin had ever seen at Iron Man who took a full hit. Yamcha and Krillin automatically stopped their attack, looking at the smoke where Iron Man once was. Then at a distance they saw a figure, Tony Stark had survived, but his suit was busted to hell. He came down hard on the deck. They looked at Piccolo who was looking around.

"Very well." He said, calmly. He then jumped up. At least, that's what Krillin first thought. But no, he was levitating. He came to Yamcha at his height, facing them. His skin looked scarred and bruised from all the attacks, his powerlevel had gone down but only slightly.

"You have fought bravely." He told them, then looked at the ground at the Avengers. "Not these, they don't understand power, they have no respect with their technology and chemicals. But you, you have honor. I will let you live this day, you are no danger to me, nor are they anymore. Find someplace to hide, I'll find you in the future." He said. Then he went up higher, hovered there for a moment and then went head first down, faster and faster. He screamed as he punched through the ship further and further down. Then he was gone. Krillin landed and rushed over to Cap and Jean struggling up, Yamcha went over to Tony. He felt it immediately, the ship was going down again, hard. There was no stopping it now.

"We lost." Cap said as Krillin approached.

"He fled the scene." Krillin said. "We weakened him."

"No, I just heard from Black Widow. The Dragonball is gone, she couldn't find Hulk. Elektra is missing, they have it." He said. When Cap said those words Krillin felt a shudder. They did lose. He felt his chances of becoming an Avengers go down the drain, his chances for anything.


	12. Chapter 12

Bulma was watching the screen with fear in her eyes. This can't be happening. Where was everyone? What had happened? She tried all channels of the helicarrier, the Avengers personal communications, even Fury's private cellphone number, nothing. All she had been able to do was keep track of the Dragonballs and that painted a worrying picture. Right now, all 7 of the balls were visible on her screen, 5 were together like they had been since Piccolo took theirs from them, they were on the move away from that island where Goku and Cyclops had gone. But if they had them they would have contacted her, wouldn't they? Then, an hour or so ago the 7th and last Dragonball suddenly appeared in Africa and was approaching fast. Then to her fear, the 6th ball SHIELD had also appeared right above the ocean close to Shikoku island, where the Helicarrier was. It moved slowly towards the coast for a while and she heard a big fight had erupted on the carrier before it went static, but that ball now too was moving towards the other 5, fast.

This could mean 2 things. Or they had defeated Piccolo and were now going towards the other 5 to take them, or Piccolo had gotten hold of it and The Avengers, SHIELD, Krillin and Yamcha had failed and were probably dead. She couldn't bear the thought of that being true so she hoped they had just simply won and were now on the Helicarrier going after the other 5. But if that was true why was it on the radar? That can only mean the Helicarrier was damaged and unable to mask the ball. Well, it could have been damaged from the fight. Yes, that was probably it. The only problem is she had no idea who had the 7th ball and was approaching now. Elektra? No, she was on the carrier, she heard Fury say so. She hoped they would find Goku there too, he and Cyclops had been gone way too long. With Piccolo at the carrier they might have missed him, but they hadn't found the Dragonballs as they were still in the same place.

BAMF. Something right next her cracked and poofed and she jumped in the air from the shock.

"Gutentag." Nightcrawler said as he appeared next to her. She slapped him on the cheek.

"Stop doing that! You scared the bejeezers out of me."

"I'm sorry fraulein. I was just wondering if there was any news, I'm getting a little unruhig."

"Well you are seeing what I'm seeing, the other X-men are almost here with the last martial artists, but I think its no use anymore. Something has happened, something big."

"Verdammt, we were focussing on the wrong thing, protecting those martial artists, but they were not the most important thing. This was about those Dragonballs from the beginning. Those martial artists were just a bonus. Its good we got here when we did, that's true, saved some lives including your friends. But we should have seen the bigger picture from the start." He said.

"I'm afraid you are right, we should have gone after the 7th ball, now Piccolo seems to have gotten it, in Africa, look. And it is going straight for the others." She showed him the route of the 7th ball. He punched the table.

"Scheisse! They are coming together, Piccolo could have them all together in an hour we have to do something." He said.

"Can you teleport there and steal them?" She asked.

"Nein, I can't teleport if I don't know where. I've never been there. But I can get close fast. Contact the X-jet, tell them to hurry. We gotta go as quickly..." He wanted to continue but there was a call. Bulma answered it, it was the Avengers. She put him on speaker.

"This is Captain America, we have lost the Dragonball to Piccolo, we are currently retreating to Stark Tower, the helicarrier is lost. Hulk fell into the ocean, Krillin, Yamcha and Jean are alright, Tony is hurt pretty badly and we lost a lot of SHIELD personnel, men and women with families. SHIELD is effectively knocked out, Fury is missing. Whoever is listening, SHIELD, X-men, Z Warriors, do not move, do not go anywhere. Piccolo and Hand are now in control. We'll arrive in a couple of minutes." They heard Cap say. Bulma and Nightcrawler looked at each other.

"Oh my god, I'll go see if we have any more senzu beans. How are they getting back?"

"Your company is probably their rescue. The others are back, I'll brief them." Nightcrawler said and teleported away leaving a strong scent of sulfur behind. Bulma stood up and went to her bag. She still had 2 beans left. 1 was for Tony, that's for sure. She hoped they had information on Cyclops and Goku, they might need one. They'll see, they could split one if they had to.

When they arrived Bulma rushed to Tony and gave him a senzu bean, he was in critical condition when they brought him and surgeons were already waiting to take him in but the senzu bean stabilized him, only his arc reactor was still damaged, but Bulma told them she would help with that. Senzu beans can't fix that, but they need to repair it quickly.

"Where are the X-men?" Captain America asked.

"They are in the hangar next to this one, they just arrived. Nightcrawler is briefing them." Bulma said. Jean came in behind Cap.

"Have you heard anything from Cyclops?" She asked, her voice was trembling, he was terrified and furious at the same time.

"No, I had hoped you people had more information, I have to tell you something else, the Dragonballs, they are on the move, then the 7th is on its way here as well." She said. They both looked shocked.

"That's not good, not good at all. Quickly, we have to get to Nightcrawler. You, take care of Tony here." Cap said and they both rushed off. Bulma saw Hawkeye and Black Widow climb out of the capsule transport ship as well, they were hurt but not too badly. Then Yamcha and Krillin as well, hardly looking at her. Nobody else came out. She heard the SHIELD agents were ordered back to the US.

"Hawkeye, aren't you going with them?" Bulma asked as they walked by.

"Why? I'm out of arrows, Black Widow is out of bullets, we have no business fighting demons, Hulk is gone, we gotta find him. Black Widow is going to try and contact Thor, we could really use him right now. Other than that, we'd only be in the way. Come, I'll help you with Tony." He said, then Krillin and Yamcha came up.

"Hé, were is Goku? Is he back yet?" They asked. Bulma shook her head. He took the brown bag with the last senzu bean out of her pocket.

"I don't have much time, gotta help Tony here. Look, Cap and Jean are going to Nightcrawler, I think they are going to look for Cyclops and Goku, go with them. The Dragonballs are coming together, we have no time to lose. Here, take the senzu bean. Its the last one. Go go go." She said as she gave the bag and rushed on with the stretcher to the machine shop of Stark Tower, Tony was guiding them through, half conscious.

"Don't worry mister Stark. I'll fix that thing of yours in no time, I've studied the schematics while I've been here doing nothing, thank you very much for that by the way. I know how it works, I can fix it. Improve it even." Tony nodded slightly before going unconscious again.

"Alright people, let's get to work. Let's hook this thing up to the equipment Tony pointed out, I want some readings on this, I want to know what's working and what is not. Someone get me a multimeter already!" She said, already feeling like she was the boss of the place.


	13. Chapter 13

Captain America had shaken Nightcrawler's hand, nice and firm handshake, good. He hadn't met a lot of X-men, only Jean, Cyclops and the professor. He heard all about them though, their files were in the SHIELD database of course. After Nightcrawler had explained where they stood now Steve took out of a picture from his pocket and showed it to Nightcrawler as Jean looked at him desperately with tears in her eyes.

"We need to get there, as quickly as we can." He said. Nightcrawler took the picture.

"Wass ist this?" He asked.

"This is the island Goku and Cyclops went to find the Dragonballs, we are going there and find out what happened to them. Please." Jean said.

"Ja, this is very far though, I'm going to need to teleport several times, going to take us some time to get..." Nightcrawler wanted to say but Jean interrupted him.

"No no, you have got to jump us there right away. At once. You did it before remember? As long as you go from north to south you can jump much further." She said.

"Yes, but I almost died then Jean. I mean, I was in a coma for a month." Nightcrawler said with the most empathic voice.

"Yes, yes, but now we have Senzu Beans do we not?" She asked out loud as Yamcha and Krillin came in. The look surprised.

"Yes, just the one though. The last one, gotta get more from Korin if we need them, I hope he has made more." Krillin said.

"We gotta use it, Nightcrawler has to do this. Please!" She said. She looked at them with so much guilt and sadness they immediately understood how desperate she was. She had told Cap what she felt on the carrier before the attack but now he knew how much faith she had in her own powers, she knew something had happened to Cyclops and she needed to know what, now.

"Please Kurt, we have so little time." She said. Nightcrawler nodded.

"Alright, alright. But it will just be you and me. I can't take on any more." He said, she nodded. She looked at Cap, he looked back at her with even bigger eyes. This wasn't the plan.

"I think it would be wise if I went with you. I understand though that he can't take all of us there. Well, Hand is probably not there anymore, Piccolo definitely isn't there. Hm, well I guess we'll just prepare the tower and track Piccolo down as fast as we can, we gotta know where he is bringing the balls together. Then find a way to get there and stop him. Good luck you two." He said. Jean nodded and held onto nightcrawler like a hug. Nightcrawler looked at the picture, closed his eyes and a few seconds later they popped away with a big BAMF.

"Alright, alright. Where is Wolverine?" He asked the other X-men who were escorting a man out of the X-Jet who must be the one they call Wolfman, now just an ordinary Russian man. He would be in no danger Steve thought, he's not even a martial artist. They now knew also why Piccolo was after them, he was afraid they knew the Mafuba. But now Piccolo had killed that martial artist, so he won't be coming after them anymore. Like Nightcrawler had said, a huge waste of time.

"Wolverine is at the security section, guarding Psylocke. We have a plan?" Iceman asked.

"No, I just want everyone to gather. We'll make one." He said. When they were all gathered Steve's hope sank into his shoes. Bulma was still working on Tony, who didn't seem to be joining them any time soon, Black Widow and Hawkeye were preparing the tower and helping track the Dragonballs, Jean and Nightcrawler weren't back yet so it's was just Krillin, Yamcha, Wolverine, Iceman, Angel and him.

"We can't stop him, he'll get all 7 dragonballs together on Okinawa before we can reach him." Steve said bluntly. The others were silent until Krillin spoke.

"Maybe he doesn't have the password." He said. Angel looked confused.

"There is a password?" He asked.

"We have to assume he knows it, he knew they existed, he knows he needs 7, he knows everything about them." Steve said.

"So these things grant a wish you say, and you guys used it before? What did you wish for?" Wolverine asked.

"We wished everybody killed by the Red Ribbon Army to be brought back to life." Yamcha said.

"Wow! They are that powerful? And Piccolo is just going to wish for youth? Why not an army or the powers of a god?" Iceman asked. The 2 Z warriors just stared at him.

"The dragon has its limits. For example, it can not grant a wish beyond its power, I'd say wishing to be a god is too much for it. Wishing a group of people back will also limit that to no longer than having died a year ago. Also, it can not repeat a wish so nobody can be wished back to life more than once, and it will not create love." Yamcha said, who tried that last one.

"Piccolo believes when he is young again he will basically be a god. He is already insanely strong, if he is young again i think he may be right." Steve said. Iceman blinked a few times.

"So, if he gets his wish he will indeed be unstoppable?" Iceman asked. Cap nodded.

"Nobody short of Thor could stop him then I'm afraid." He repeated.

"Alright, so where are the rest of the Avengers?" Angel asked. Steve explained their situation.

"Gone? How can the Hulk just be gone?" Iceman asked. "We need heavy hitters people, we need some omega level allies or we ain't stopping Piccolo."

"Well, hopefully Jean will be back soon with Cyclops and Goku. They are heavy hitters. Not "omega" levels, whatever that is, but still." Yamcha said. The X-men looked skeptical. Steve decided to back them up.

"Goku is definitely a heavy hitter, I've seen him fight, he can give Piccolo some trouble." Steve said.

"Plus whenever he heals he gets stronger, we don't know how but he does." Yamcha said.

"Must be because of his mutant powers." Angel suggested. Iceman shook his head.

"He's not a mutant, at least not according to the professor." He said. Angel looked shocked.

"But his tail!" He said.

"I know, he might have a mutation, but he is not our type of mutant, not a homo superior." Iceman said.

"Maybe he is Inhuman or an exiled Deviant." Angel suggested.

"Excuse me but what on earth are we talking about here? Goku is human, maybe a mutant, sure. But I have never heard of a Deviant or Inhuman before. It's just the tail, he has no other superpowers except getting stronger after healing. Is that a common mutant trait?" Krillin asked.

"I've never heard of it. He could be Inhuman. I doubt he is a Deviant though." Iceman said.

"It doesn't matter, he's strong, we need him." Steve interrupted.

"Well, he's gone." They heard someone say behind them. That smell of sulfur was there again. They were back! Steve turned around along with the others. There, Jean Grey stood, crying. Behind her, Nightcrawler collapsed after dropping a body before him on the floor, the gruesomely mutilated remains of Cyclops. Everybody was in shock and awe. Krillin was able to catch Jean before she collapsed, then everyone sprang into action. Steve checked the body, Cyclops was dead, half his body was charred, his eyes were burned out. It was terrible. Yamcha bent over Nightcrawler, he had passed out.

"Please, give him the bean, he hasn't got much time. He took Cyclops back with us, after already being so weakened." Jean said, stammering. Krillin grabbed the bean and rushed over to Nightcrawler and put it into his mouth.

"Swallow, Nightcrawler, just swallow." He said. Nightcrawler swallowed. They waited for the miracle to happen, but nothing happened. Suddenly Nightcrawler screamed out in pain.

"Something is wrong, this is not good. I can feel his energy level drop." Yamcha said as he tried to hold Nightcrawler down as he screamed in agony.

"What happened? The senzu bean didn't work?" Jean came rushing over, held her hand on Nightcrawler's head.

"They've always worked, I don't understand, they should work on all humans, even mutants. In seconds you receive healing, an energy boost, no need to eat for 3 days." Krillin explained. With her powers Jean was able to calm Nightcrawler down, she looked up at Steve.

"He's dying." She said. "His life force is being sucked out of him. I don't get it. I've seen them work, the senzu beans, it couldn't have caused this could it?" She asked nobody in particular.

"Quickly, where do they come from." Cap asked Yamcha and Krillin.

"From Korin, the master." Yamcha said.

"Where is he at, can you take Nightcrawler to him?" Cap asked.

"Yes, of course, we will take him right now, it's not far. He'll know what's going on." Krillin said. Yamcha and Krillin took Nightcrawler by the arms.

"Come we take the x-jet right now." Jean said. Both martial artists nodded.

"Wait, we need you for the fight." Cap said. The martial artists, the Z Warriors looked at each other.

"Alright I will stay, but the other X-men should go with them." Yamcha said.

"I gave it to him, I'll go. Jean, you should stay too. They need your powers. Where was Goku?" Krillin asked.

"He wasn't there, I think he is a prisoner of Piccolo. We found only a handful of Hand agents. Most died before they talked. We did find out Piccolo is on the move to Okinawa where he will bring the 7 balls together." Jean said.

"Dammit, that's too far, we won't be able to get there in time to stop him." Steve said.

"We'll find a way. Go now. Take Cyclops body with you, prepare him for return to the Mansion." Jean said. With that, the others left and took the X-jet, Iceman piloting for the first time.


	14. Chapter 14

Reed Richards, leader of the fantastic four was monitoring everything going on in and near Japan ever since they noticed an energy spike on one of the islands and a SHIELD Helicarrier was apparently knocked out of the sky by unknown means. He was sure they were not the only ones monitoring the situation right now. They hadn't interfered yet, intentionally as they didn't want to get in the way of the Avengers and SHIELD. From what they had gathered, a demon had appeared and was threatening the entire world. From what they heard from the SHIELD secure channels the demon Piccolo was bringing 7 objects called Dragonballs together and if what they heard was true, them together meant a dark age for the Earth. Such a powerful being cannot be allowed to gather the strength to conquer the Earth, by whatever means. He had already shown his ability to beat the Avengers, apparently with those 7 balls he would be more powerful than anything they had ever seen, whatever they did.

In their special airplane they were on their way to Okinawa but their timing was not good, they would arrive shortly after all those balls would be together. They saw that the Avengers weren't even attempting to prevent it from happening. But Richards didn't give up so quickly, if they were too late, they'd have to fight them right there. The others disagreed though.

"What about the boy, Reed?" Thing asked. Ben Grimm, his closest friend, he was like a brother to Reed, made a good point. Along with Piccolo, a half a dozen Hand henchmen and the ninja assassin Elektra, a prisoner was spotted among them. They had identified him as Goku, a Japanese civilian. Why he was a prisoner they did not know, but he was just a child.

"I don't know, we have to save him somehow. I say we go in hard and fast." Reed said, thinking of a million things at once, even the work he had left behind at the Baxter building was still racing through his mind.

"But we will arrive too late anyway, the 7 balls will be together. It'll be nighttime by then too. What's the use?" Human Torch said, a young hotshot and brother of Susan, the Invisible Woman and Reed's wife.

"We can't endanger the boy Reed." Susan said. She was right as well. They had recently gotten a child together, little Franklin. They had put them in the loving care of the robot nanny. The first time they did it, took a while for Susan to step outside of the house without him.

"Alright, then we will get as close as we can, see what is what and try and rescue the child." Reed finally said. They all nodded at that.

They set down the plane over the water and Reed got them quietly and dry on the island, then send the plane to go underwater and wait. They snuck around the island until they noticed activity closeby. In an open field they saw some hand assassins who were setting piles of wood on fire as Dusk was setting in slowly. In the middle of the pyres stood an enormous figure, that must be Piccolo Daimao, the Demon King.

Reed had studied him before they came here and he had told the others all the necessary details. He couldn't find any information anywhere on these Dragonballs though. All they knew was there were 7 and had significant power.

They could see anything yet, nothing that would look like balls, or... But then Reed spotted them. 6 yellow balls, glistening in the slowly rising moonlight. They were smaller than Reed had thought. he pointed them out.

"That's it?" Grimm asked.

"I count six of them." Susan said. Reed nodded.

"Yes, the 7th is on its way from the south-west. Should be here any minute now. Let's get closer and listen to what they are saying." He said and they crept closer. Susan went invisible. Ben moved the slowest, sneaking wasn't his strongest point. Eventually they were close enough. Now they saw the mutant Elektra there, and the boy being tied up to a pole by her. From the shadows an old man emerged. He was wearing traditional Japanese clothing. His headdress was peculiar though, seemed to be the head of a crane bird, sticking straight up.

"Shen, you said your students would be here now, where are they?" The demon spoke with a big, chilling voice, it made Reed shudder.

"My lord they are on their way. I will punish them for their insolence, they are not being loyal." Shen spoke with a cracked, snaky voice. There was a Japanese symbol on his chest, it said Crane school. He must be a martial arts master, one of the old schools from the 18th and 19th century. Not many existed anymore, when the grand master Mutaito died his students, instead of keeping his teachings alive as a whole, splintered into smaller schools teaching only one aspect of his martial arts and most disappeared eventually, not enough interest or something. The Crane school was only one of 3 that had survived as Reed had figured. Still, they were secluded, hermits taking only 1 or 2 students at a time. Apparently this school was in league with the demon and Hand.

"I see something coming, it's the mutants." Elektra said and they looked to the south-west. The Fantastic Four followed their gaze and sure enough a small craft appeared and landed in the clearing. Out came 2 mutants. One was large with 3 eyes and the other very small and levitating, obviously some telekinesis powers. Both had the same symbol as Shen on their clothing although the tall one had a bare chest. The tall, very muscular one gave a small bag to his master and was scolded, hard on his face, 3 times Shen hit him. Then the master turned to the small one and scolded him too, but much more so. Reed noticed the tall one was about to intervene but stopped as Elektra walked closer to him and stared at him intently. The small one got a severe beating, until he was on the ground and not moving. The big one finally did move despite it an held the small guy in his arms like he was his child. Shen stopped beating and moved back. He walked to Piccolo and handed him the bag. Piccolo opened it and revealed the 7th Dragonball. He threw it with the others. As the 7th ball rolled against the other 6 they started glowing in pulses. This shut up the others and the Hand henchmen standing around. Then Piccolo started laughing.

"Finally! I cannot waste another minute." They heard Piccolo say and he then spoke in an unknown language to Reed, who knew almost all languages of the world. He said:

"**Takkaraput pop Shenron pupiritt paro!****" **After saying that the pulsing on the balls intensified and intensified until finally they kept glowing and a white light appeared. Suddenly a bright, white flash shot up into the sky. As they looked up Reed noticed the stars disappeared slowly, like a black veil enveloping them. They all followed the bright beam of white light shooting up and up higher into the air then curl twice until it eventually widened and materialized into a huge, long, green, Chinese dragon. The face of the dragon hung right in front of the 7 balls, its tail emerging from the light right above the Dragonballs who were all glowing white. The body of the dragon filled up the entire sky, hanging all around them. Piccolo stood there with a wide grin.

"Haha, yes Kami, I know all about what you did. I felt it, even in my prison. I should thank you if I cared." The Fantastic Four were in awe of what they saw, they all couldn't speak in the presence of such a mighty being. Reed figured this thing must be cosmic in powers, more powerful than the Juggernaut, or Thor even. Reed caught the name Kami, he had heard of the name before, a deity worshipped by some Japanese cultures, very long ago. More scary than seeing the mighty beast in front of them was hearing it speak. It spoke with an alarmingly loud voice, so deep and thundering yet it didn't hurt their ears.

"You have summoned me, tell me your wish now." It said in English surprisingly. Piccolo didn't waste a second.

"Dragon I wish for my youth and full health!" He said, spreading his arms. The mutants and Shen were not moving at all, they were trembling.

"It shall be done." The dragon said, then its giant red eyes glowed. Piccolo was turned into light for a moment, laughing as loud as he could. When he returned to normal Reed noticed the change immediately. The dragon had fulfilled his wish, he was young again.

"Your wish has been granted. Now I depart." The dragon then said, sending shivers down Reed's spine. It started to swirl around again. Piccolo looked at his hands first, then looked at the dragon.

"I don't think so, dragon. Sorry Kami but nobody can challenge my powers anymore, not even you." He said and stretched his arm towards the dragon. With a scream, a beam of energy shot out of the palm of his hand and hit the body of the dragon. They heard the dragon grunt and then suddenly, poof, it disappeared.

"Oh my god!" Susan yelled, standing closest to the group of villains, and they had heard her. Elektra was on the move immediately whilst the martial artists stayed on their spot. Meanwhile, the sky turned to normal and the balls lost their glow and their color, they were now nothing but ordinary stone balls.

"Somebody is there?" Master Shen asked.

"Impossible, I would have sensed it. Chiaotzu?" The tall one then said. Reed only now saw the small one, called Chiaotzu was awake again and sitting up on the ground. He touched his head, so he was a psychic. They were in trouble now Reed knew. Invisible, Susan darted back to the others but somehow Elektra followed her and nearly hit her with her sai's as she ducked.

"More pests, take them out quickly. Then we are leaving." Piccolo said, his voice sounding young and energetic. He had grown in size, his head was smaller and his limbs thicker.

"You might be invisible, but I can still sense your movements and breath." Elektra said, slashing away and barely missing each time.

"Tien, there are more of them, 4 in total." Chiaotzu said. That's when they all darted out of their hiding place. Johnny went flame on and Ben jumped out between Susan and Elektra.

"It's clobbering time!" He yelled and lunged for Elektra who easily dodged him. But her distance to Susan had increased and as Ben slammed on the ground she lost her balance for a moment. That's when Susan turned around and put up a forcefield where Elektra slammed hard upon. Then Reed came up and wrapped himself around her and squeezed. But that was when the mutants jumped in, distracting them, Reed lost sight of the other 3. Straight after that a green haze went by, Reed felt pain and wasn't sure where or how it got there. The next thing he knew he was on the ground.

"Hold them down!" Reed heard Tien say. He tried to move but as he turned he felt a sharp pain in his neck, finding it was the grip of Piccolo. Before he had turned he saw Tien was on top of Ben, holding him in an arm lock. Elektra was on top of Susan and Johnny was lying on his stomach, alone, he wasn't moving.

"Johnny!" Reed yelled. The pressure on his neck went away and 2 feet came into view. Reed looked up but Piccolo didn't look at him. Reed stretched. Now Piccolo looked him straight in the eye.

"Don't move and don't worry, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Johnny still breathing. I just blew out his flame. If you move, he won't be breathing anymore shortly." Piccolo said.

"He literally did Reed." Susan then said, struggling to get free from Elektra's grip. "He blew and Johnny's flame just went out, he fell from such a height..." She said, almost choking on the words.

"We have destroyed their craft, they won't be going anywhere. You 2, kill them. You 2, come with me. Its time for me to show myself to this planet and tell them my demands." Piccolo said. Elektra let go of Susan and slammed her on the back of the head hard, she went unconscious. The big guy called Tien hesitated but followed Elektra after Piccolo. Left behind were Shen and Chiaotzu, to kill them. As the others had left Reed dared to move as Shen and the mutants were busy with each other. Chiaotzu was still wounded and Shen yelled at him to get a grip and kill them for him. As Reed turned around he saw Ben laying a few feet away from him, Susan and Johnny. He was out cold now too, probably from a blow from the mutant Tien. Alright, it was all on him now.  
They made a mistake letting him go, his body could recover quickly from trauma. The pain in his neck had subsided. As the duo approached Reed lunged out with his stretched arms, catching Shen straight in the face and wrapping his other arm around Chiaotzu's head and shaking him wildly. The old man was quicker than Reed had thought though and recovered, deflecting his second blow. But Reed had good experience in combat and his flexible body gave him the upper hand against a martial artist. Chiaotzu quickly lost consciousness from lack of oxygen, with the shaking he couldn't concentrate his powers. With both villains knocked out Reed got up and rushed to Johnny. His pulse was faint, concussion, possible hemorrhage. He was cold, in shock, nothing was broken though. He needed medical treatment quickly or he could die.

"Reed..." Susan had woken up. He quickly rushed to her whilst wrapping Johnny up in his body to warm him up.

"Susan! Johnny is in bad shape. I have called our emergency craft, but it won't be here for another half hour. The closest civilization is too far, I'm trying to stabilize him. Wake Ben up." He said. She just nodded, obviously she was concussed as well. Ben, on the other hand, was harder to concuss, just like Reed. When Ben was awake they started to make a plan to get to a hospital as quickly as they could when an airplane came up above them. It was unmistakenly the X-jet of the X-men. It came down low and out came Warren Worthington III, Angel.

"The Fantastic Four? What are you guys doing here?" He asked.

"What are we doing here? What are you doing here, did you intercept my signal or something?" Reed asked. Angel looked bewildered.

"Well, not a half an hour ago there was an enormous Chinese dragon hovering above here that nearly covered the entire island with its size. Its origin was pinpointed here. You didn't see it?" He asked. Reed sighed.

"Look, we got a medical emergency here, can you help us?" Reed asked and opened his body to reveal Johnny's body. Angel looked shocked.

"Oh my god, of course, get him on board. We have medical equipment in there you can use. Quickly now." They all rushed into the X-jet which took off immediately.

Inside they were introduced to the other X-men and a Martial artist by the name of Krillin who was somehow involved. Apparently he knew about the Dragonballs and explained it to Reed as being able to grant a wish every 130 days. They were shocked when Reed told them Piccolo had killed the dragon.

"Is that even possible?" Krillin asked himself. Reed intervened.

"You called it once before didn't you? How did you know the password?" He asked.

"Bulma knew it, she found some old documents, claimed to have found them in Brazil. I think that was the last place the dragon was called. Its gibberish really, written down phonetically so we could pronounce them right. I suppose Piccolo, being so old, had heard it before." Krillin said. Reed wondered though, Piccolo seemed to say them without trouble, without hesitation and in an accent he had never heard before. Maybe some lost language, some connection between Piccolo and the balls.

"What should happen after the wish is made?" Reed asked.

"The dragon disappears back into the balls, then they levitate and disperse across the globe again. They turn to stone but they return to their orange form again before you are able to wish again. Can't track them whilst in stone form." Krillin said. Reed thought about that for a moment.

"Alright, what about this Kami character?" He asked. Krillin looked puzzled.

"Well, Bulma did say something once about that. Supposedly a protector of the Dragonballs, or one of the first users." He said.

"Or the creator." Reed said. He had read some stuff about Kami too, ancient Nipponese culture and mythology. Not just a protector of the balls but of Earth, the legend goes he cleansed his soul to appease the Shinto gods. Fought sorcerers, wicked spirits and even a god once. This gave him the status of protector of the Earth or Guardian. Supposedly he looks out over the Earth, above the clouds. There is a marker on the surface, a tower. When Reed told this the martial artist looked surprised.

"Well, that actually sounds a lot like the place we are going to. Korin Tower. He is an old martial arts master, a very tall tower people have to climb to get to and receive his sacred water. But there is more." He said.

"You climbed this tower?" Reed asked. Krillin nodded. "Alright, what else is there?"

"It has access to another dimension, a pocket dimension where you get ultra divine water. We haven't drunk it yet, too dangerous. Something about cleansing your spirit. Korin mentioned something above him, watching over him when we got out and asked about that water." He said. Reed understood it is possible this Guardian is located right above this tower.

"The natives down there seem to worship him, but maybe it's not Korin they worship. Maybe it's Kami." Krillin said. "It's amazing we found you when we did, we are on our way over there now, the ultra divine water could heal Nightcrawler, at least we hope. Korin also grows what we call senzu beans, they could heal Johnny over there. Although, that's what made Nightcrawler here sick. I'm not sure if Korin appreciates so much company though." They talked about that, theories arose, Susan examined Nightcrawler and said he was suffering from some kind of allergic reaction, its unlikely Johnny shared this allergy.

"Alright, let's get there as quickly as we can." Reed said walking over to the cockpit where Iceman was flying. Maybe he should take over.


	15. Chapter 15

Tien was worried out of his mind. He was now trapped in an airplane, strapped in. Elektra sitting next to him. She liked him and whilst training with them, though very briefly, she kept teasing him and making inappropriate remarks. She gave him the creeps. She was no true martial artist, just used to hardship and discipline. In front sat Piccolo, towering over the 2, he was flying the rather small plane with the 3 of them towards Tokyo. It was just them now, Hand was pretty much wiped out after all events. So many people tried to stop them, tried to stop him. One of them, a boy called Goku was in the back, tied up, moving around. Elektra had gagged him as he wouldn't shut up. Tien felt quite some energy coming from him, a true martial artist like him. He hadn't given up despite his situation. Tien didn't fully understand why his master Shen had joined up with Hand in the first place, and now this character. But he was mostly worried about Chiaotzu, left behind with their master. He felt something was wrong. He shouldn't have left him behind. He should have stood up to him, to them all. He should...

"Hé, three eyes. What's the matter with you?" Elektra asked him suddenly. He realized he was clenching his fists and sweating. He stopped, looked around.

"Oh, uhm. I'm just worried a little bit since we are with so few, if we can do this." He said. Piccolo started laughing.

"HAHAHA. Don't worry, I can handle it all by myself. Nobody can stop me now. Aaaah, Tokyo. The bay, the palace. Just as I remember, this will be glorious. Oh, to hear the screams again, to feel the fear in those weak humans when I unleash my fury!" He yelled, more to himself than them. Tien looked at Elektra who smiled and rolled her eyes. She rubbed her hand over his leg. It sent chills down his spine. Yep, definitely shouldn't have left Chiaotzu behind. As they approached they were called by the tower, some planes came flying by their side as Piccolo ignored everything. He looked at one side where a small jet had appeared. Tien saw Piccolo's eyes light up and the jet exploded in mid-air. The other broke off as Piccolo went in for a landing. They landed at the harbor where Tien saw they were waited up by a small group of people and vehicles.

"Look!" He exclaimed.

"The Avengers?" Elektra asked. Tien could see them clearly now. It wasn't the Avengers. At the back near the buildings stood SHIELD agents, about 5 of them, with big rocket launchers and experimental weapons and some Japanese army troops with tanks. In front of them stood 3 people. 2 were X-men, Jean Grey and Wolverine. The third had to be another martial artist as he was wearing the same clothing as Goku, with that symbol. They were from the Kamesenin school, the turtle school. He knew, didn't know Roshi had 2 students though. Should be interesting to fight him. They landed and the cockpit opened.

"The guy with the black hair is mine." He said out loud before he realized. Elektra smiled. They got out of the plane, Piccolo rose up from the cockpit. Tien decided to just step out and not follow his lead.

"Cocky boy isn't he? He's called Yamcha, he's right up your alley." She said. Piccolo laughed.

"He can have him, he is of no importance. That mutant I will take care of though, the red-haired girl. Elektra, you take on the midget, give me his skeleton." He said. Tien wasn't sure Piccolo realized who he was up against. Both these X-men were formidable opponents, Wolverine a good martial artist, he had seen him fight before.

"What about the boy?" Elektra asked. Piccolo turned to face her.

"Of course, how could I forget. Show him to them, give him a nice view of the carnage that is about to happen." Piccolo said. Elektra walked to the back of the plane and took Goku out.

"Goku!" Yamcha yelled. Elektra put him in the front seat of the plane. His hands and body were bound by vibranium chains, he wasn't going anywhere. He looked pissed off, still. Then Goku seemed to look shocked, Tien followed his eyes and it seemed to lock with Jean. She nodded slowly, Tien looked back at Goku who was fighting tears. He was gagged so he couldn't communicate but Tien was very curious what that exchange was about.

"Lets first take care of the hindrances shall we?" Piccolo said with a loud voice and spread his arms. From his fingertips balls of energy appeared and shot out at the opponents. Tanks, truck and APCs blew up and soldiers ducked and died in a flash. Yamcha looked behind him shocked from the destruction, some buildings were hit as well. The X-men didn't move a muscle, except their faces grew angry. Tien looked shocked as well, what a monster! and such power! Elektra didn't seem to care. She just smirked and stepped forward and pointed to Wolverine.

"Why don't you just surrender and join us Wolverine? Don't you know a losing battle when you see it?" She said. Wolverine just looked at her.

"You killed Scott. We aren't surrendering. I'm gonna kill you." Jean then said, she was fighting tears but rage was most prominently present in her face. Tien stepped closer to Yamcha, cracked his knuckles. Yamcha looked at his allies. Elektra took out her sai's, Piccolo took off his mantle and hat and landed on the ground in front of Jean.

"You really don't think we are gonna let you dictate who is going to fight who are you?" Wolverine said, drawing out his claws. He then lunged towards Elektra. She prepared with her Sifs but at the last moment Wolverine dodged away and Yamcha came in a hit her square in the jaw. Wolverine went for Piccolo who didn't seem impressed. Meanwhile, Tien was facing Jean Grey. Luckily for Tien, he had a lot of training with a psychic and had readied his mind against them. He started to spar with her but she kept him at a distance, knowing she couldn't match his speed and strength. She was well trained, a veteran. He had a hard time locating her position, predicting her moves, study her tactics. All was psychological warfare and only his training prevented him from being overrun mentally.  
The strain was intense and only increased. It was time to show what he had. He did his duplication technique, a tough trick from the Crane school that would fool most opponents, but not someone like Jean Grey. As she easily dismissed the copies and focussed her attention on Tien again he morphed his body for the first time. He deployed 4 arms, something which master Shen said was from Crane school training and something he could do once as well. All lies, Tien was a mutant, a bodymorpher. He hated this. All his life he had been prosecuted for his abilities, always hiding. His master didn't like mutants either, though he tolerated him and Chiaotzu because they were his best students. He and Chiaotzu enjoyed the training, it went as far as they hoped and further, pushed them beyond their limits time and time again. But then Hand came into the picture. First, Master Shen wanted to work with the red ribbon army, met with some doctor. Tien instantly knew that was bad business. Luckily they folded up pretty fast before any real ideas could be exchanged.  
Tien had hoped that was the last time his master would do business with shady groups, groups that they could have no business with other than money and power. These 2 things didn't interest him and Chiaotzu. But now here he was, standing up against the Avengers and X-men for his master's benefit. Fighting alongside a demon. He wasn't so sure anymore. He looked behind him, at the boy Goku. He was screaming, lost his gag apparently, calling names, trying to get free. He respected him, he should help him. Step aside Tien, let them play their little power games, retreat and train, fight for what's really important.

"Don't lose your head now." He suddenly heard and was hit by something that felt like a freight train. He skitted across the pavement and wound up over the edge of the dock in the water. That was embarrassing. He quickly jumped out on the dock and looked around. He kept one eye on Jean though(easy since he had 3). Piccolo and Elektra were fighting close to each other. Piccolo seemed to have a hard time with Wolverine. This was not strange since Wolverine's claws were one of the few things that could harm Piccolo's body, the body of a demon. Elektra was doing no better against Yamcha, who seemed to know her every move. This guy was trained really well. Tien had to switch it around somehow, knew he could beat that guy.

He jumped into the air and faced Jean, only one chance for this move.

"Solar Flare!" He screamed blinding Jean with a flash from the sun. He landed and dashed over to the other 2, he jumped in between.

"Elektra, take on Jean Grey. I'll handle this guy." He said. Without a snappy remark she went off. Piccolo grunted.

"I don't remember saying you could bark orders, mutant. Kill that fool." Piccolo said. Tien ignored him. He faced Yamcha.

"Show me what you got then." Tien said and they started parrying. Yamcha was good, but it was as he expected, one-sided and slower than him. "Alright, let's take you out the fight." He said, jumped back and put his hands to one side.

"Kamehameha!" He screamed. Yamcha's eyes went wide.

"How did you..." Was about the only words he managed before being hit by the wave. Now Tien could focus on Wolverine. But before he could help out Piccolo Elektra came crashing into him, he caught her but he couldn't get his footing and fell backward. She was unconscious.

"Raaah! Enough of this." Piccolo said, finally got the upper hand on Wolverine and flung him away. Piccolo stepped over to Tien with Elektra on top of him. As he tried to push her off him Piccolo picked her up with one hand.

"That's the last time you failed me." He said and threw her into the air. With his other arm he charged up a ball of energy and blasted it at her. When it hit, her body disintegrated. Tien was at a loss for words as he saw small pieces of Elektra rain down to the ground. He kept absolutely still. Piccolo looked back down at him. The look in his eyes, absolute madness. Tien was next, he knew. But before Piccolo could move he was hit by a blast, no damage but it distracted him. It was a psionic attack by Jean Grey. As Piccolo was distracted Tien scrambled up and put a distance between him and Piccolo. When he knew Piccolo stopped thinking about him he went for the airplane.

"You, you monsters! You kill your own people. I'll get you!" Goku was screaming, Tien ignored him as he went into the backseat and started looking. He knew Elektra had put it here, where is it? Ah, he found it. Then he went to Goku.

"I'll kill you, I'll." Goku went on and on.

"Shut up, I'm letting you go." Tien said holding a keychain. Goku stopped moving and shouting and looked at him confused.

"You are?" He asked. Tien picked the right key he got from the backseat and unlocked the restraints.

"Yes, I want nothing to do with this. Consider this a sign of respect. Don't try to find us and I'll leave all of you alone as well." He said then he darted off, the left the plane behind. He didn't need it. As soon as he got some distance he will fly to Chiaotzu and tell his master what he thought about him. Time to leave this life behind, start thinking for himself.


	16. Chapter 16

Goku watched the big guy with the 3 eyes leave. A mutant, a martial artist. He had hardly spoken since Goku saw him arrive with the Dragonball. All he knew he was called Tien and had a little buddy called Chiaotzu, also a mutant. Remarkable. Goku looked back at the fight. Yamcha was unconscious, Wolverine was in bad shape, Jean was still standing though. Goku stretched.

Piccolo was deflecting all attacks by Jean, closing in on her with every move. She wasn't going to win, whatever she did she couldn't break through, he was clearly toying with her. When he got close enough Jean fell backward, still hurling attacks on Piccolo without stopping, she cried, screamed harder and harder. Piccolo was about to slash out for the killing blow.

"Kamehameha!" Goku yelled and a beam went straight for Piccolo. He turned around quickly and held out an arm and the beam simply dissolved against his palm. Goku charged at Piccolo, the only option. He immediately felt his attacks had little effect, he pushed and pushed. Piccolo was not worried. But Goku's plan worked and Jean got some breathing space. He hoped she had saved the best for last.

When Piccolo decided to hit back, he really hit back. Goku wasn't fast enough, wasn't tough enough to handle the blows, his fists felt like concrete. This young version of Piccolo, at least twice as strong. He had at least doubled in muscle mass. There was no chance Goku could beat him. He was whooped around like a rag doll.

But, then Piccolo's moves slowed. Goku wondered what caused it, he now could block a punch or 2 now, get some oxygen back in his lungs. Piccolo seemed distracted, Goku tried to look around, see what was going on. Jean Grey was standing a few feet away from them, an aura seemed to glow around her. A golden aura. So strange, Goku thought. She didn't know Chi, hadn't gotten training from any of the schools that taught her students this ability. But her powers seemed to increase, fueled by rage. What was going on?

"What is this trickery? Mutant, what are you doing? Some kind of ability I don't know about?" Piccolo said, whilst easing up on Goku. Goku could now feel it too, that energy. He had never felt anything like it. What was strange was that Piccolo's aura, his energy, was chaotic, twisted, dark. The energy Jean gave off now was scarily the same, definitely powerful but Goku also felt fury, restlessness, he also felt, Cyclops! Goku was confused, then he heard a voice.

"Goku! Goku!" He heard in Jean's voice.

"Jean?" He asked, wondering if he was going insane. He stopped feeling the blows of Piccolo, felt himself become weightless and then he found himself in some shadowy plain, with some kind of fog making it hard to see. In the distance he saw a figure approach. It was Jean.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"You are in the astral plane. I'm communicating to you with my mind." She said. She was wearing the costume she had on when they fought Krakao, back with the original X-men.

"Where is Piccolo?" He asked. Jean closed her eyes.

"He's still out there, punching you to a pulp. But time has stopped or slowed down extremely. Listen, I need to talk to you." She said.

"Okay, that energy, that's you?" He asked. She shook her head.

"Something came to me, I called it I think. When I fought Tambourine, one of Piccolo's children. Yes, it came here, from far far away. I'm not sure what it is, its raw energy, life I suppose. It opposes Piccolo, that's for sure. I'm acting as its host. I have a hard time controlling it though. I think my psionic powers prevent me from being torn to pieces right now. Look, Piccolo is distracted right now, but once the energy unleashes I can't guide it or control it. All I can do is think of the people I love, the ones who got hurt, Cyclops and Sunfire. You." She said. Goku thought for a moment.

"I am in the way of that thing, aren't I? It wants to fight Piccolo now." He said. Jean didn't speak for a moment or even move.

"I think it wants you to keep him occupied. Long enough for it to channel enough energy. And then..." She stopped talking, looked down. When her face came back up tears were in her eyes. Goku nodded slowly.

"I see. It's not your fault Jean, in fact, I'm glad this is happening." He said, she looked surprised. "I'm kinda losing you know, if not this then what is there to stop him?" He said, almost cheerful.

"Don't worry Jean, I'm ready, I can take a lot you know." Goku said. Suddenly Jean looked up.

"The Dragonballs! They can wish you and everyone else back, right? Cyclops? Sunfire?" She said excitedly. Now it was time for Goku to bow his head. He shook it slowly.

"The Dragonballs are gone. Piccolo killed the dragon." He said, trying not to choke on the words.

"What? How is that possible? How can anyone do that?" She asked, trembling. Goku didn't have an answer, he didn't have an answer for anything right now. All had gone so bad, he was so disappointed in himself. He never had that feeling before. The Dragonballs, the dragon. They were so powerful. He thought nothing less than a god could destroy them. But Piccolo is not a god, Piccolo is just a demon, a spawn. Anger welled up inside him again.

"Just do it, Jean, release the energy. Kill that monster. Whatever it takes." He said, he looked as serious as he could. He thought about all the people that got hurt, that will be hurt. It had to be done. Jean looked at him silently, she then nodded slowly. Suddenly the world around Goku changed. Reality came back, he felt the wind, smelled the sea, felt the pain of Piccolo's punches. There he was, he had to focus, keep him busy. He felt Jean and that energy inside her. Yes, so powerful. No escaping from that. The energy built up, Goku kept Piccolo close, steered him much as he could, however little it was. Then, the energy released. Goku looked at it. A yellow-reddish burning flame came straight at them. It had the strange appearance of a bird, flapping its wings as it came for them. Piccolo stopped fighting him.

"No, impossible!" He said, turning his attention away from Goku. He held out both his hands as the flame hit them. Goku fell before it hit, but Goku got caught by it almost as much as Piccolo did. He felt burns, not just his body but going through his mind as well. Then it all went black, he heard a woman's voice as he slowly lost conscience.


	17. Chapter 17

"I'm not changing direction again." Iceman said irritated. Krillin smiled.

"Just trust me, a couple of degrees to the west. We are nearly there, come on." He said. Iceman grumbled but did as he was told. The instruments kept on showing they were on a steady course. But Krillin knew the drill. After a few minutes something showed up on the horizon.

"There it is!" Krillin yelled as they saw a tower show up in the distance. Dawn arrived as they approached, the sun in heir back as they saw the sunshine on the narrow beam of the tower. It was going up and up into the clouds, such a strange sight.

"How come we didn't see it before? There is nothing on the map, nothing on radar." Reed asked, looking at his screen, checking the radar on the plane.

"Its magical, mister Richards. Can't find it on any map, can't even mark it properly. Planes just steer away from it automatically, radars can't pick it up." Krillin said.

"Alright, so this Korin guy is just on top?" Angel asked. Krillin nodded. "So we just fly the plane to the top." He continued, but Krillin shook his head.

"How high can this plane go?" He asked. Angel looked at Iceman, who just shrugged.

"Around here about 75,000 feet." He said, which is quite higher than Krillin expected. He sighed though.

"Yeah well, the top of the tower is probably about 100,000 feet. " He said.

"Probably?" Iceman asked. Krillin shrugged.

"Well its height has actually never been established. It is not really a structure you see, it grows. But last time we climbed it we had calculated it was about 100,000 feet, so about 18 miles." He said casually like it was no problem.

"Oh my god, how long did it take you to climb it?" Susan asked. Krillin thought for a moment.

"I did it in 4 days. Not too bad I think, as Goku did it in just 3. Yamcha in 5." He said, they all looked shocked.

"You climbed 18 miles in just 4 days?" Ben asked. Krillin nodded. They all sighed.

"Great. So there is no flying up there and if we climb it'll take another day at least. Iceman can't get there on his own and Johnny is out cold but probably couldn't carry Nightcrawler with him anyway. No way Nightcrawler is going to make that." Iceman said gloomy.

"I can't fly that high I'm afraid." Angel said. "My wings need lift from the air, that high there is no more air."

"Climbing up there is only required when getting the holy water, for training. We are going to ask his help cure Nightcrawler, so get the plane as high as you can and I'll fly him up there" Krillin said.

"This is the best option. I'll get the plane to 75,000 feet or as high as possible. Then it is up to you." Iceman said. They all nodded. It was the only option fast enough to save Nightcrawler. The plane started its ascend in a circular route around the tower.

"What about Johnny?" Susan asked. Krillin sighed.

"Taking 2 at once is going to take longer." Krillin said but saw Reed stand up and suit up.

"He is stable now. I can climb him up there, we'll get a senzu bean from Korin. Just get as high as you can and circle the tower. I'll spot you and bring him back as soon as I can." Reed said. Ben was looking gloom, not being able to do anything. Probably thinking about knocking the tower down. Krillin started doing stretches.

"What are you doing?" Reed asked. Krillin smiled.

"I fly, you climb. I wonder who is fastest. First one to the top has to try the divine water first. Deal?" Krillin said, holding his hand to Reed who looked at him curiously. He didn't shake it. Krillin saw Mr. Fantastic climb up a skyscraper once, lightning speed. He knew he was fast, but with a body to carry with him and the length of the ascend he might just make it there first, felt like good training. He thought about how Korin probably wouldn't make a big deal of someone flying if they only wanted to help a friend or has questions.

They got out and Krillin gently picked up Nightcrawler who had stopped squirming about luckily. He looked at the tower going into the clouds, whatever clouds were left. He compared to how he was when he first climbed it, it seemed so hard back then, almost impossible. Reed came out and stretched his body as a bridge towards the tower. Krillin saw Johnny's body lying inside that of Reed, like a snake that just ate a large prey. All of a sudden something brown ran along Reed's body and jumped onto the tower.

"I'm coming too." Ben said. "I wanna see this Korin for myself, maybe he'll help me." He said. Reed nodded slowly. Ben started climbing as well. Reed was way faster though. The race was on, Krillin kicked off. He had only been able to fly for a year now but he was getting faster and faster, Nightcrawler weighed almost nothing he noticed so it shouldn't take long. 10 minutes later he saw the top.

"Korin! Korin where are you?" Krillin came screaming onto the platform. Part of it was a small house and ran inside. There was a bed there and he lay Nightcrawler upon it. On the other side of the room Krillin saw the pots, maybe 80 of them all various sizes and shapes. The biggest one holding the doorway into the pocket dimension where they could get the divine water. He was tempted to just go inside and take it. But, he didn't know what could happen. He rushed outside again.

"Korin!" He yelled.

"Hold on to your shorts." He heard behind the house, the platform extended behind it for a bit, only just wider than a walkway. The cat Korin came walking behind the building, holding his cane, one hand on his back.

"Can't a cat take a leak quietly here? Oh, it is you again, curious, I still hear someone climbing. Somebody else coming? What's been going on?" The cat asked as he walked back into his home. Krillin showed Nightcrawler to him. The cat frowned.

"Hm. I can help him. You say he is your friend?" Korin asked. Krillin nodded and told what happened.

"Nah, a senzu bean won't work on him, I get that. It's like poison. It's... A third person is approaching the top, quite a mysterious way of climbing. Tell me, who are these people you have invited to my sacred tower?" Korin asked. Krillin swallowed.

"Well, uhm, there is someone else who needs help. Those coming up here are members of the Fantastic Four. One of them is badly injured. Will you give him a senzu bean?" Krillin asked with as much respect as he could. Korin whistled.

"Phew, I gotta go see if I have some senzu beans. Maybe I have a stash somewhere. Now, about your friend here." Korin said. Krillin was overjoyed, he would help Johnny. He will be better in no time.

"Ah yes, you know what's happening to him?" Krillin asked. Nightcrawler's skin had all turned grey, his breathing was erratic and his heart weak. he didn't have much time.

"Yes, he is not really human you see." Korin started. Krillin waved his hands.

"Yes, I know, he is a mutant. Are you saying senzu beans don't work on mutants?" Krillin said but Korin was shaking his head as soon as he started talking.

"You aren't listening to what I'm saying. It's not the fact he is a mutant, he is, but he is also partially Neyaphem. They are from what we call the Brimstone dimension. Don't worry, there are a lot of pocket dimensions, most have at least some connection with this one. But the senzu beans don't work on him since they originate from its counterpart, a dimension which we call the angelic dimension as its real name is unpronounceable. That's why it is killing him, he is basically allergic."

"Hello?" They suddenly heard outside.

"Oh, it appears Reed Richards... Ahem, I mean Mr. Fantastic has arrived." Krillin said.

"Don't worry, I know his real name, I know everybody's real name. Also know when somebody wants to keep it a secret, like Nightcrawler over here. Now, let us go have a look at the other patient." Korin said and walked outside, Krillin after him.

"Mr. Richards." Korin said as they approached them. Reed was returning his body to normal as Johnny was laid on the floor.

"Excuse me, let me catch my breath first. Wait, I have a respirator." Reed Richards said. Krillin had forgotten, they were 100,000 feet up in the air, the oxygen levels were very low. Krillin of course knew how to breathe and could be here without any problem but for someone unaccustomed it must like your lungs are on fire.

"I hope those are mechanical." Korin mentioned. Reed looked surprised as he put the respirator to his mouth.

"No, it is an electronic device." He said. The respirator covered his entire face, allowing him to talk. He couldn't activate it though, he was still struggling for air as the tried to get the device to work. Krillin saw a slight panic in his eyes.

"I'm afraid technology like that doesn't work here. We are on sacred ground. I understand your troubles though, let me teach you how to breathe here. Krillin why don't you go inside, I think the second drawer from the top, you'll find some senzu beans there I think, give them to the poor boy here before he bleeds out." Korin said. Krillin ran back inside. Indeed there was a small bag of beans in the drawer, he ran back outside. He felt there were 3 inside. He took one out and gave it to Johnny Storm.

"Swallow Johnny." He said. Johnny obeyed. A second later he opened his eyes. Meanwhile Reed had turned his body to normal again and was standing up, breathing normally. Now it was Johnny who was starting to struggle for air. Krillin told him the technique to breathe himself, after a few seconds he was able to breathe a lot better as well.

"Alright, now that is sorted out. Let us go back inside. Your friend is still has a long way to go before he reaches us." Korin said as he casually walked back in.

"What? How did you know someone else was coming up?" Reed asked after hugging Johnny. Korin turned around.

"You don't spend centuries on top of a tower without getting a feeling for the vibrations that are going on when someone is climbing it. He is a big fellow too right? Around 220 kilograms I would say. A mutate like yourself am I correct?" Korin asked. Reed nodded.

"Yes, Ben Grimm. My best friend. He is hoping you can help him too. You'll know with what when you see him." Reed said.

"Hm, so many people to help. What makes you all of a sudden come here? Krillin? You got an explanation for this?" Korin asked. Krillin was embarrassed.

"Well, you see. It's not really you who we are here to see. We heard about another, someone who could help Nightcrawler. And maybe even Ben Grimm." Krillin said. Korin looked curiously.

"Yes, there is someone. Kami. That's the one you are referring to isn't it?" He said.

"So he does exist. Who is he?" Reed asked.

"Well, he is the guardian of the earth. A deity, bound to this plane, watching over all of us all the time. He sees all, he knows all. He has defended the Earth for many centuries, sorcerers, aliens, demons, even another god he once battled and won." Korin said mysteriously.

"Demons? Do you think he knows how to beat Piccolo?" Krillin asked. Korin didn't move a muscle.

"Piccolo Daimao is a creature only a handful of people on Earth could beat, only 3 of them currently present on the Earth plane. Kami does know who, what else he knows you should ask him."

"Does he know about the Dragonballs?" Reed Richards asked.

"Of course, he made them." Korin said. Krillin fell over.

"Really? The Guardian of the Earth made the Dragonballs? Did you know Piccolo killed the dragon? The balls are useless now. Do you know how Piccolo could have done such a thing?" Krillin asked.

"Yes, I know. But I think you should ask him yourself. You have my permission to go see him." Korin said.

"Okay then, where is he then?" Johnny asked. Korin pointed up.

"Right above this tower actually. Question is though, what makes you think you are worthy to receive him? After all, it's not like you can just enter onto the sacred grounds of a god. You may have my permission, but now you need to be worthy to get there." Korin said.

"Well, we did save the earth from Galactus." Johnny said. That surprised Korin.

"Galactus huh? Yes, I did wonder why he left. His herald came to me back then, didn't speak to me though, just sized me up I guess. I had hoped he just changed his mind. But I see now, mortals stopped him. You guys did. Yes. Well perhaps Kami will receive you after all." Korin said.

"So we can go up there?" Krillin asked. Korin looked at him.

"Well, there is another thing. Do you have the power pole of Nyoibo?" He asked.

"The what?" Krillin asked. Korin grunted.

"It is a wooden staff, it kinda fell off the tower some 200 years ago. Ahum, unfortunate accident I'm afraid. It is a magic staff, it fits in a hole in the top of the tower and then extends all the way to Kami's home." Korin said.

"Can't I just fly there?" Johnny asked. Korin looked at him surprised.

"I'm sorry?" Korin asked.

"Flame on!" Johnny screamed and he was ignited into big red flames. Korin jumped back in fright.

"Woah, do all of you have abilities nowadays or something? Another mutate, cosmic rays changed your physiology too I see." Korin asked. "Ahum, alright. I suppose you can fly up. I'd say its about 20 more kilometers from here. Whoever enters the realm of Kami must show respect though. Don't show any sign of hostility, no using your abilities once you are up there. Don't worry, the location called The Lookout has its own atmosphere. You three should go now, I can take care of Nightcrawler for now, maybe I can find something out of his own dimension that I can help him with, forgot which pot that was though." Korin said. The 3 of them nodded to each other.

"Alright, how are we going to do this? Reed, I can take you up there if you want. Johnny can you fly that high?" Krillin asked. Johnny smiled.

"No problems. I can reach the orbit. Start of the mesosphere shouldn't be a problem. Can you do it?" Johnny asked. Krillin shrugged.

"I don't know, I guess why not. I use my KI to fly, not air like Angel. Hopefully I can hold my breath until we get there, 20 kilometers is gonna take a while with someone to carry."

"Hey what about me guys?" They heard from the edge of the platform. Ben Grimm came climbing up. As he stood he noticed that Johnny was all better, this put a smile on his face. Johnny came up to him and they hugged.

"Hé big guy, you made it. Aren't you having trouble breathing?" Johnny asked. Ben shrugged.

"My lungs are so big it is gonna take a whole lot thinner air to make me struggle with breathing kid." He said. "So anyway I heard to talking about leaving already. Where are you going?" He asked. Then he noticed Korin.

"That's Korin Ben, he is a martial arts master and mystic." Krillin said. Ben walked over and bowed to the cat. Korin looked embarrassed.

"What exactly did you tell them about me Krillin? You don't need to bow Mr. Grimm, I'm no King or God you know. Just an immortal cat. Judging by the looks of you I think you have seen enough crazy things that a talking immortal cat wouldn't throw you off." He said with a small cough. Now Ben looked embarrassed.

"Oh, okay. Yeah, so, you see... I was wondering. Do you perhaps, I don't know, can you help me fix my condition?" Ben asked. Korin looked surprised.

"Your condition you say? You mean you didn't choose to look like this?" Korin asked. Ben looked angry.

"Who would wish to look like this?" He asked bitterly.

"Yes, I see. Good point. Well your powers are caused by cosmic rays yes?" Korin asked. Ben nodded and explained what happened.

"Hm, yes. Very rare these kinds of cosmic rays, certainly around Earth. Let me try to explain. Power is measured in 3 different ways by us mystical creatures. The first is Chi, or KI. This is the power of mortals, the energy inside their bodies stored and obtained naturally through training, either mentally or physically. Any mortal can reach an unlimited amount of Chi, just depends on how their body and mind works, they have to be sync, you have to push beyond, you have to believe in your abilities, genetics can help of course, like those mutants that appeared recently.

The second is Magical power. Magical power is quite different, uncontrolled, violent even. Magic is the power taken or borrowed from other dimensions and worlds. Magic power is acquired through totally different means than mortal power, with totally different laws. Of course you all know about it, there is a lot of magic power present on Earth, unusually so. The sorcerer supreme originates here, the stones of norn are here, Dragonballs, magic has even thinned the fabrics between this dimension and others like the purple dimension and the Negative zone, this has all harnessed immense magical powers in one spot. They have attracted the likes of the Majin, Dormammu and has even now attracted some very powerful magical forces I shall not speak of.

And finally, there is cosmic power. This is what you possess, Benjamin Grimm. You and your 3 fellow heroes. But you possess only a fraction, or it will tear your body and mind apart. Cosmic power is difficult to harness, the most difficult of the 3 as its also the most powerful. Cosmic power is the power of the universe, of existence. Beings of great importance hold great cosmic power, beings like Galactus and also Kami, and even me. There are different rules when it comes to these 3 powers, a small amount of cosmic power can overwhelm a large amount of magical power, and even more the mortal power level. On the other hand, it costs a lot more cosmic power to traverse between worlds whilst with magic powers it is no big deal at all. Lastly it can be a real strain on a magic user or cosmic being to exist and use their power, it comes at a price, whilst mortals can use and control their power level with ease and enjoy its benefits without any cost to body or mind. So there you have it. You can return to normal, but at a cost. When you are willing to pay that cost, then you will be able to return to normal."

"Oh I am willing to pay that price." Ben said. Korin's eyebrows rose.

"Are you? If you are then you would already know how to change. But you don't, you are here seeking my advice." Korin said.

"Can you help me find the way?" Ben asked. Korin rubbed his chin.

"I can, but you need to be prepared, this is not going to be easy." Korin said. Ben's face lit up, for as much as that was possible.

"I... Thank you." Ben turned to Reed and Johnny. "I am going to stay here for a while. You guys should go up there, to see this Kami person." Ben said. The other members of the Fantastic Four simply nodded. Reed approached him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Good, you can help me cure Nightcrawler here then. Ever been to a different dimension?" Korin asked. Ben turned around with a surprised look on his face. He slowly nodded.

"Good, now it is all a matter of finding a pot that can fit you. Hm, let me see here." Korin kept talking as he went inside, Ben followed him in. Krillin waited by the edge of the platform for Reed and Johnny to get back after saying their goodbyes.

"Alright, let's go then." Krillin announced as the others nodded, indicating they were ready. Krillin didn't really know how to handle this though. He got ready to carry Mr. Fantastic. He came up to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't expect me to hang on like a child, I'll form a ball around you and you just start flying, it will create a bubble of air for you and me to breath, don't worry about direction, I can keep you going upwards steady and smoothly. Are you ready?" He asked, smiling. Krillin smiled too and relaxed a bit. Good, no awkward holding hands. Mr. Fantastic's body grew and enveloped Krillin, it was the strangest experience he ever had, luckily with his KI he could create a light inside the ball. He lifted up and pushed with his hands on Mr. Fantastic's body.

"Alright, up we go." He said and set off, he started of easy but felt Mr. Fantastic's body could handle the stress easily and so he accelerated as much he could, the sooner they got there the better. He could still sense the outside, Johnny was pushing up ahead of him, out of instinct Krillin tried to keep up and go faster, it was a thrill.


	18. Chapter 18

"There it is!" Krillin suddenly heard Johnny said as he was focussed on speeding up more and more, Johnny Storm had tremendous speed and was just toying with Krillin he realized. It helped get there fast though, Reed opened his body up, letting the air out and Krillin saw a gigantic platform in the distance, approaching fast. He slowed down as they shot past it and Reed let go of him as Krillin touched down on the Lookout. Reed landed as a parachute beside him and Johnny landed on his other side. They looked around. Like Korin said the atmosphere was like on the ground. It was a peaceful place, trees, lots of white stones in a circular platform. In the middle stood a building, like a city hall or palace. It was beautiful. Krillin looked at the others and they started walking towards it.

"Remember, no using your powers." Krillin mentioned again.

As they got close Krillin noticed movement near one of the bushes close to them. He lifted into the air to look over it and saw a peculiar man hunched down over some flowers. He was quite large and looked like an old man, wearing white robes and a cane. He was gently humming to himself as he was watering plants.

"Look, someone is there." Krillin said. Johnny and Reed looked. The old man looked around in surprise. Krillin went over to him.

"Excuse me, sir. Are you Kami, the guardian of the Earth and creator of the Dragonballs?" Krillin asked. The man didn't move, just kept looking straight ahead with a gentle smile. Johnny and Reed appeared as well.

"No." He suddenly said in a deep voice. The tall man, higher than Reed, took a step towards Krillin, who took a step back in surprise. The man took another step, then he bent forwards slightly.

"I see you are a martial artist. Do you mind showing me?" He then said. Krillin scratched his bald head, looked back at Johnny and Reed.

"Uh, ok." Krillin said, never leaving a chance to fight pass him by, he learned that from Goku. He took a fighting stance and then attacked with his fist. The man didn't even blink as he grabbed Krillin's punch with ease. Krillin followed with more punches and kicks but couldn't get a single one through. His confidence fell away, even as he came at him from different angles and even an energy blast did nothing. Krillin stopped to catch a breath.

"He what are you guys doing over there?" Johnny shouted from which was now a distance away, closer to the plants. Krillin saw he and the old man were a lot closer to the house now. Krillin touched back down on the ground. Johnny came walking up to them. The man looked at Johnny in surprised, then a smile.

"Ah, more guests. Special people, yes? Are you a martial artist too?" The man asked. Johnny blinked a few times.

"Not exactly." He said. The man looked disappointed.

"Ah, pity. No real willpower or determination, hm? I see." He said. That got Johnny upset, although he was easily upset.

"Alright, you want determination? Flame on!" He shouted and burst into flames. The man looked surprised again.

"Aaah, splendid. Come on then. Attack me. Show me your abilities. Do mind the plants though, they are very delicate." He said. Johnny shot up into the sky.

"Krillin?" He asked first.

"Go ahead, I couldn't even touch him. Show him what you are made of." Krillin said, knowing that Korin had said they weren't supposed to use their powers here. But the man said he wanted to see, so he should see. Johnny burned hotter and shot, with both arms, a flame towards the stranger. he didn't move and got engulfed by the flame. Krillin got worried that he might actually kill him, Johnny's flames are no joke. As the flame died though, he was unharmed, not even smoking. Just a gentle smile on his face and arms behind his back.

"Very good." He then said. "Please come here, all 3 of you." He continued. Reed came over as well, looking to be more in thought than trying to ask questions or be social. Johnny and he landed in front of him, Reed came up next to them

"So, you are looking for the maker of the Dragonballs?" He asked.

"Yes, we are. Who are you?" Johnny asked.

"I'm the gardener. I am the caretaker here, I receive guests and help them as much as I can. Kami doesn't just talk to anyone you know, even warriors like yourselves. People who come here usually are looking for a cure or redemption or sometimes training, if they are familiar in the ways of Chi." He said. He looked at Johnny and Reed.

"But you two aren't martial artists, you have cosmic abilities. They were forced upon you. No matter, but they don't work here, not like they do down on Earth. Your fire for example was only about 120 degrees celsius. And you, you couldn't stretch as far as you could down there. No. But you, you are a martial artist and have trained under Korin, I know. But you are not here for training, your interest is the Dragonballs. I will tell you right now, I will not tell you where to find them or the password. And if you are here for that I suggest you leave right away." He said, keeping that gentle smile on his face. Krillin shook his head.

"No, we are here because the dragon, Shenron has been killed." He said. The Gardener looked shocked.

"Oh my. Wait that would mean..." He started to say but was interrupted by a voice coming out of the house.

"It means that Piccolo Daimao has been released from his prison, Gardener my good friend." It said and a figure stepped out. Krillin felt a jolt of fear rise in his spine. Piccolo Daimao!

"It's him! He's here!" He yelled and jumped into the air, he let his muscles flex and pumped all his energy into his limbs. Johnny Storm went flame on and Reed stretched and his body crawled around the floor. They attacked simultaneously as if they were working together for years. Krillin let off a Kamehameha, Johnny and flame and Reed came in with his fists. The figure hardly moved as he was hit on all sides.

"Kami!" They heard The Gardener yell. Krillin looked back at the old man in shock, then back at the ball of smoke that was created from Johnny's flames, realizing they could hardly be hot enough to harm someone like Piccolo. As the smoke cleared Krillin took another look at the figure. He looked a lot like Piccolo Daimao, but now Krillin saw the differences.

"Don't worry my old friend. They cannot harm me." Kami said. "Their powers are turned down as long as they are guests here. No cosmic powers. And as for that one." Kami pointed at Krillin. "He's going to need to do a lot of work before he is able to overcome my cosmic powers or the influence of this place. Please, come inside so we can discuss the recent events. I don't get many mortals to visit." He said and went inside. The gardener looked at them, nodded and directed them to go inside. He went back to his gardening.

Inside was a lot of open space, the wind came through all sides and the ceiling was high and opened up to the sun. They were not just high in the air though, this was some sort of pocket dimension like Korin said. Krillin felt strange being here, like he was being watched, and tested. He didn't like this place. As for Kami, he was totally the opposite of Piccolo thankfully. He offered them a drink and sat down on a group of pillows gathered in a circle. Kami didn't sit, he stood in front of them.

"So, I'm guessing you are wondering why I look so much like the demon Piccolo?" He asked. Krillin looked at Reed who nodded. He spoke first.

"Yes, I have got some idea as to why, having read many old texts and codexes about you and many other mystical beings. You and he are the same person aren't you?" Reed said. Without any facial expression Kami nodded.

"Go on." Kami said. Clearly expecting more. Reed continued.

"Well I think you were a mortal just like us once, but eventually through great achievements you were able to reach the position you are in now, except that in order to take this position you had to leave behind your evil, all the things that make you mortal. What you left behind, that's Piccolo Daimao." He said. Kami nodded again.

"Very good. That is mostly true. This is the reason why Piccolo Daimao has been granted demon status as well, as he is nothing but my evil side whilst I am nothing more than the good side. But, I am not fully immortal, I am not a god and nor is Piccolo a full demon. We can be killed." Kami said.

"Well, that is good to hear. Wait a minute, is that why Piccolo was able to kill the dragon?" Johnny asked.

"Something like that. He didn't really kill the dragon. Nothing can truly kill it, less than something like a celestial anyway. Its presence inside the balls has simply been disconnected. It can't appear anymore." Kami said.

"Can you remake the connection?" Krillin asked.

"I can, but what will you do with the dragon's powers. I've seen what people have been using the dragon for. Sometimes good, but often very bad, vain and selfish. Why should I trust the human race with this power anymore? I have been thinking about destroying the dragon myself." He asked.

"Knowledge of the dragon has been very limited over the ages." Reed said. "People didn't know its powers, what can be done. People are petty, simple creatures, it's true. But, with the knowledge we now have we can use the dragon to do great things, good things. We can make sure of that. You have my word." To this Kami nodded.

"I can bring the dragon back. But first Piccolo Daimao must be defeated. Your friends are currently in a great battle against him." Kami said. Krillin jumped up.

"What? You know they are battling right now? How, where?" He asked.

"Tokyo. Japan is the place where I battled a great evil sorcerer and was able to split myself, thus creating Piccolo. He is drawn to it, it is his place of birth basically. That is where he wants to start his world domination again. Your friends Goku and Yamcha and several members of the X-men are present to confront him. One of them holding a power very little in the universe are able to contain. This is a remarkable moment for Earth."

"What is this force?" Reed asked.

"Well, on Earth its called the phoenix force. It has been here before, thousands of years ago, before I was here in fact. Its the oldest force in the universe, one of the most powerful ones too. It is basically life, with the power to create and destroy. Therefore it is not an evil force, but not a good one either. Jean Grey will channel this force to destroy Piccolo. But I cannot say if it will stop at that." Kami said worriedly.

"But you are the Guardian of Earth! Shouldn't you go down there and help?" Johnny asked also standing up. Kami walked towards him a set his cane down hard.

"I will not defy the phoenix force. The Earth is being helped already, there is nothing more I can do. I see what is going on down there right now, interfering now could be catastrophic." He said.

"So you could help out, but you won't. Fine, then I'll go down there." Krillin said and stood up. Kami kept standing still. Krillin looked at him. "Well aren't you going to stop me?"

"No, you can't do anything against either of them. Not yet. She is getting close to channeling the power, only after it is released can I say what the outcome is. Well, if it succeeded I will probably vanish before your eyes. But with luck, I will remain and so will the Dragonballs." He said.

"But piccolo won't be dead then." Reed said.

"No, but defeating him and killing him doesn't have to be the same thing." Kami said. They all looked puzzled. Then Kami closed his eyes and flinched.

"It's happening." Kami said. "The power is being channeled." He said, then started grunting. He grabbed his head. The Gardner came to him worried, supported him as he went through his knees. He was clearly in a lot of pain.

"Aaaaaah!" Kami screamed out in pain. Then he went silent, only heavy panting. He seemed to recover though, could stand on his own feet again. He opened his eyes.

"It is done. Piccolo has been defeated." Kami said. They stood motionless, nobody knew what to say.

"But you are still here." Krillin said. Kami nodded.

"Yes, he is still alive. But he is not a threat anymore, I promise you that. Not for a long time anyway." He said.

"So he will be back." Reed asked. Kami nodded again.

"Yes, but I do not know in what way, he won't be as powerful as before." He said.

"Alright, we will just have to be prepared." Krillin said enthusiastically. This was great, Piccolo had been defeated.

"Wait what about Goku?" Krillin asked. Kami smiled at him.

"He'll make it. So will Jean Grey." He said. Krillin was overwhelmed with joy.

"So, will you resurrect the dragon?" Johnny asked.

"I shall. The people of Earth have great heroes defending them. It will be my token of gratitude to resurrect the dragon and let you have your wish. Please keep using the Dragonballs with respect and honor. It is a powerful tool to operate. Please protect the secret, we can't have it fall into the wrong hands." He said. He walked into the building. He came out a second later holding a bulb and within it a busted dragon statuette it seemed.

"This is the mold I used to create the dragon. I will resurrect it with it. To make it possible for you to make the wish the Dragonballs will stay where they are right now and the dragon will reemerge automatically. The time for wishing is reset as well. You can go on down right now, be there when it reappears and do your wish. Go, and thank you." Kami said. Krillin and the other bowed and headed for the edge. Krillin knew he would be coming back here really soon, invite Goku and the others as well. He went into the air and headed straight down, Johnny followed and Reed after that. The race with Johnny was on as he plummeted down towards the surface, Krillin went to full speed as well.


	19. Chapter 19

As Johnny and Reed informed the X-Jet what the plan was Krillin went up ahead, having lost big time to Johnny reaching the surface again, he was insanely fast. Krillin went top speed to get to the island before the X-jet would, feeling positive he would arrive first. As he saw the island on the horizon however the X-Jet came soaring over him. When Krillin arrived and landed they were already placing the dragonballs in a more open spot, they were still stone though. He was glad to see Nightcrawler among them. Krillin greeted him.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Gut, danke Krillin. I owe you one." He said. It hadn't struck Krillin really yet what had happened in the past 24 hours. It hit him like a hammer, he fell to his knees and started shaking. Everyone rushed over in concern.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Krillin said whilst struggling against tears. They were all distracted by a strange noise coming not far from them. In mid-air they saw sparks appear, they moved and formed a circle. In the hole somebody emerged wearing a red cloak.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. I think we need to have a word." He introduced himself to Krillin. Krillin was stunned for a moment, first the Avengers, then Kami, now the sorceror supreme. Whats next? An extraterrestial? Krillin shook Dr. Strange's hand.

"Oh, okay." Was all he could say. Krillin noticed the cloak around his neck was moving on its own, Krillin knew it was a magical object, like so many.

"Yes, I'd like to discuss the use of the Dragonballs." Dr. Strange said. Krillin looked surprised. The Fantastic Four and X-men came over.

"The Dragonballs? What about them?" Krillin asked.

"Yes, but let us wait till the rest have arrived and then I'll explain. Ah, so those are them I suppose?" Dr. Strange said, walking over to the 7 stone balls laying together.

"Have you guys contacted Tokyo?" Krillin asked. Johnny nodded as he shook Dr. Strange's hand.

"They are all on their way. Nice flying by the way, but not fast enough. They were really surprised we knew Piccolo had been defeated. It is strange though, according to them Piccolo was fully incinerated. Nothing was left of him. Isn't that weird?" Johnny said. Krillin thought about that for a moment.

"Maybe Kami lied? I hope he did, Piccolo can't have survived." Krillin asked. Johnny shrugged. Krillin turned back to the sorcerer supreme.

"Yes, those are the dragonballs. How do you know about them?" Krillin asked, realizing instantly it was a stupid question. Dr. Strange smirked.

"My dear boy, I know of the existence of most if not all mystical objects on Earth, especially as powerful as the dragonballs. Such ancient magic, so potent. So dangerous as well."

"Something went down here." Reed then said, they all rushed over to him where he was standing. The dragonballs had been taken away from where Hand had build an encampment. Reed had walked back othe camp to inspect it. Behind a tent they found a body.

"Thats master Shen, the head of the Crane school. He was alive when we left here. Where is the other one, the little guy?" Reed asked.

"He's not here. Well, if he was killed by Piccolo or his henchmen he is in luck. Put the body over there where we can see it, when he is resurrected the Avengers can arrest him immediately." Johnny said.

"Look over at the horizon. The others are here!" Susan said pointing to the east. Indeed they saw multiple figures appear, silhouettes at first but they quickly saw it were the Avengers, the rest of the Z warriors and the X-men. They came in various capsule corp and Stark industries vehicles, some came flying by themselves. First touching down were Goku, Yamcha and Bulma.

"What the heck happened?" Krillin said, rushing towards his friends, tears in his eyes.

"I thought I was a goner for sure." Goku said as he was being hugged by Krillin and later on the Avengers and X-men landed as well. Every cheered and shook hands and clapped as the story about the defeat of Piccolo was told, and the Phoenix force explained. Dr. Strange kept quiet as they celebrated. The only ones not joining in the celebration were the X-men. Krillin went over there.

"Marvel girl?" He asked. She smiled at him slightly.

"Just call me Jean, everybody seems to do that." She said. Krillin smiled back.

"Don't worry, it'll all be okay. You'll see." He said. Jean looked worried.

"We won, but at what cost? All those lives, Cyclops, Sunfire. It will never be the same." She said. Krillin came up and held her hand.

"Don't give up hope, just wait and see. It will all be better soon, you'll see. I take it you have Cyclops body here?" He asked.

"Yes. Bulma also insisted we take Sunfire and Roshi's bodies with us as well. Why?" She asked. He smiled.

"Could you bring them outside please? If you don't mind we'll lay them near the balls." He asked, embarrassed. Jean looked shocked.

"It's alright Jean, do it, trust me." Nightcrawler said. She sighed and they did as they were told. The bodies were placed in front of the balls, Master Shen's body far away surrounded by the Fantastic Four. Then Dr. Strange came forward.

"Please, the Dragonballs will be resurrected shortly. But I must protest about the use of them for what you have planned. It is going to have consequences. Consequences I can not begin to explain. I must urge you to reconsider." He said.

"But our friends, people we love. We must bring them back." Krillin said calmly. Dr. Strange nodded slightly.

"Yes, of course, and you have that right. But, this is the second wish in just a couple of hours. You and the others have made a wish not 2 years ago. Magic has a price, it always does. And the Dragonballs I'm afraid bag a heavy price. I believe that Piccolo's wish for youth called the Phoenix to Earth. A good thing, as it defeated Piccolo, but it was an evil wish. The wish back then by the Z warriors on the other hand, called Galactus to Earth I believe. What will this wish cause?" Dr. Strange asked.

"Right, Korin said something about that. Magic comes with a price." Krillin said.

"So what do you suggest then?" Goku asked.

"I implore you don't do the wish. Or wait at least." Dr. Strange said. Goku sighed. Krillin looked at the others, the X-men. Then shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but we can't do that to them. Whatever the consequences, we will face them. Together." Krillin said. Dr. Strange wanted to speak again, but then looked around as well. The X-men were standing together in mourning, the Fantastic Four bowed their heads down, Bulma was in tears.

"Alright, I understand. I can't force you. Just know that this will possibly endanger the Earth, endanger the people you will bring back." He repeated.

"We'll make sure to be ready for it, whatever it is." Goku said, then nodded at Yamcha and Krillin. Dr. Strange shrugged, created a portal and walked through it. Krillin then looked up, everybody did, the sky was turning black.

"It's back!" Krillin yelled and pointed at the Dragonballs in front of them. They all saw the Dragonballs turn back to their orange shine, then pulsating with light. Then a white beam of light shot up into the sky. Everyone was in awe as the eternal dragon Shenron appeared above them, its gigantic head right above the Dragonballs. Everyone except the Z Warriors and Fantastic Four took a few steps back. Even the sorceror supreme flinched at its might. Krillin stood right in front of the dragon. He looked behind him at Reed, Nightcrawler, Johnny and Goku. He nodded at them.

"Here goes. Remember, everyone wished back will not be able to be resurrected again, not Cyclops, Sunfire, nor Roshi." He said.

"You have summoned me, tell me your wish now!" The dragon said with a booming voice.

"I wish that all that have been killed by Hand and the demon king Piccolo were restored back to life!" He said. The dragon waited. And waited. It then spoke, which surprised even Krillin

"I can not do that. I can only bring back all those killed by the organization called Hand in the last year."

"Then do that." Krillin said with a broken voice, not sure if it needed an answer.

The eyes of the dragon glowed, the dragon grunted and grunted. The body of Cyclops moved first and he raised his head, his arm went over his body then over his eyes. He stood up holding his hand in front of his eyes.

"Wha, what happened?" He asked. Jean came up crying and sobbing. They embraced. Master Shen did not wake up, the corpse was soon forgotten.

"It worked!" Krillin said. Soon enough Sunfire and Master Roshi also woke up. All were hugged and thanked and explained what had happened.

"Elektra too then." Yamcha said. "She was killed by Piccolo." He looked at Wolverine who nodded.

"I don't think she'll be a problem anymore. Hand is done, for now. She'll disappear like always." He said, he walked up to Cyclops and took his free hand and shook it.

"Glad to see you back with us." He said, then nodded at Jean and walked off.

"Hé wait!" Bulma said and wanted to go after him. Nightcrawler stopped her.

"Let him go fraulein." He said. Wolverine looked back and smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll see you guys soon. I got some training to catch up on." He said and he was gone.

"Your wish has been granted. Farewell." The dragon said with a booming voice, it shot up in the sky, turned to light and disappeared into the balls. The balls lifted up and shot apart.

"Heads up!" Goku shouted and jumped into the air. He caught the four star dragonball before it could disperse. As he came down the ball has turned to stone. He smiled broadly. Johnny Storm came up to him.

"You seem to be a lot faster than your friend here." He said, nodding at Krillin. "We gotta race sometimes." Johnny Storm put his hand on Goku's shoulder. Goku smiled.

"You bet." Goku said, shaking his hand. They all laughed, glad it was all over.

* * *

Meanwhile, far away from Japan multiple radars were tracking a mysterious object through the air, it was being carried by the wind currents, blowing into the direction of Europe. There all but 1 radar lost sight of it. That radar send out a signal to the country it belonged to and the ruler of that land, who ruled with an iron fist showed real interest in this object, snatching it out of the air as soon as it entered his airspace. Deep in the dungeons of his castle he opened it up and inside unveiled a green child with peculair features. The ruler picked up the child.

"Magnificent. Perhaps I will keep you, I believe you and I can learn much from each other little one." He laughed maniacally. The child never cried.

THE END.


End file.
